The Macewan Griffins Men’s Hockey team had an amazing start to the pre-season. Securing a 5-2 victory over the Waterloo Warriors, an Ontario team that the Griffins have not played before, the Griffins showed great potential, proving this new team will be fast and intense.
If the Griffins continue to display what they did that Thursday evening, they have a shot to go far this season. While it is just the start of the pre-season, getting more fans out to watch the games is a priority for the Griffins.
“We need some more fans out here,”
– Sam Ward, player of the Griffins.
At the start of the first period, both teams failed many scoring opportunities; notably, the Griffins failed to get a point on their five-on-three power play. However, near the end of the period, the team was able to land two goals about 15 minutes into the match.
Garrett Thom opened the second period up with a straight shot into the goal, which was assisted by Tanner Fincaryk. The Griffins seemed to want to collect penalties in the second period, with two roughing penalties from a brawl in front of the commentators’ box.
When asked how they started to combat the goalie screening done by the Warriors after entering the second period, Kadyn Chabot said, “It’s one of the key things we do. Just front net battles, and I think we emphasized that after the first.”
With the third period continuing with the speed displayed during the first two periods, the Warriors pulled their goalie during the last couple of minutes. That ended the game with an empty-net goal from Griffins rookie Zach Coutu.
The Griffins are bringing back the power and energy of last season. Chabot says they want to be fast.
“We don’t want to slow down the game.”
After the game, Zach Coutu says an aggressive, fast game is something that “gives [him] the highest opportunity to produce.”
With reporting by Terence J. Fougere
