Griffins clinch first round home-ice advantage with 3-1 win over Broncos

Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – Shyla Jans scored twice to lead the MacEwan Griffins to a 3-1 win over the Olds College Broncos in their final game of the ACAC women's hockey regular season.

Now they scoreboard watch.

While the victory clinched home-ice advantage for the Griffins in the first round of the ACAC playoffs next weekend, the outcome of Saturday's NAIT vs. SAIT contest (7 p.m., NAIT Arena) will decide whether MacEwan finishes first or second.

A SAIT win would give MacEwan the top seed throughout the playoffs and a first-round date with the Trojans. A NAIT win would set up a MacEwan-Red Deer best-of-three series.

"Massive for us," said MacEwan head coach Lindsay McAlpine of sweeping Olds to finish a point ahead of Red Deer in the standings to clinch at least second. "We've been a little more inconsistent in the beginning of the second half for the home ice advantage and we've really found that stride again.

"Now we're sitting back watching the NAIT and SAIT series to see who we play in the first round."

Friday's win over Olds probably should have been about 7-1, if not for the play of Broncos goalie Nikki Grandinetti, who made 40 saves to keep her team in it.

Grandinetti was particularly sharp in the third period when she made 18 saves, including robbing Raven Beazer point-blank at 14:50 before denying Morgan Casson and Shanya Shwetz. Then, she saved her best one of the night for inside the final minute, foiling a deking Dominique Scheurer, who could only shake her head on the way back to the bench.

"For her final game, I thought she had a great game," said McAlpine of the second-year Broncos goalie. "We've talked about that as well. Those are chances we have to capitalize on when we're playing in that semifinal series."

Fortunately, for the Griffins, the line of Jans, Jessi Rampton and Jill MacWilliam were too hot for Olds to handle earlier in the contest and they had a 3-1 lead before Grandinetti's third-period heroics.

Jans put the Griffins on the board at 10:43 of the first period when she tapped home a beautiful pass from Rampton, who swung wide on the play and feathered one onto her tape.

"She made a really good pass through the goalie and their other player, who I cut in front of. I just put it in," said Jans.

The reigning ACAC second team all-star notched her second of the game before the first was over, sifting in a backhand blocker side from the slot.

"Jamie Erickson dropped it and I kind of went around the player and tried to get it on net," said Jans.

Badly outplayed, the Broncos put just four shots on net in the first period, three of which came from outside the blueline.

But the visitors gained a jump in the middle frame when, while short-handed, Krista Wilson intercepted a pass in her own zone, hustled down and cut in on MacEwan goalie Courtney Beierbach – playing just her second game of the season. She made the first save, but Wilson dribbled the rebound about a millimetre over the line. It was only Olds' fifth shot of the contest, and first legitimate chance.

Beierbach wouldn't allow another, though, finishing with 14 saves, including stonewalling Tracy Prybylski on a third-period power-play, to pick up her second win of the season.

Offensively, the Griffins stayed the course and regained a two-goal lead at 8:20 of the second period when Scheurer's power-play point shot was tipped home by Rampton. Initially, the tally was credited to Jans and was announced as a hat-trick for the second-year forward.

"That was 100 per cent Jessi's goal," chuckled Jans afterward. "I wasn't even near it."

At least we can call it a hat-trick for that line, which also burned Olds in a 3-1 win against them on Thursday night when MacWilliam scored twice.

"They had a phenomenal weekend," said McAlpine. "They scored two of our three goals last night and all three tonight. We were waiting for them to find that chemistry and I think they found it at exactly the right time."

Jans credits puck support for her line's success.

"I think the biggest thing is we were focusing on consistency," she said. "We were always supporting each other and coming in close. It worked. We've obviously gelled as a line in the second half here."

That will be key as the Griffins head into the playoffs. While they won't know their opponent until Saturday night, there is preparation to be done.

"At this point, prep is the same, regardless of who we play," said McAlpine, whose team finishes with a 16-8-0 record, closing out the season by winning six of their last seven. "We need to be mentally prepared. There's three teams we can beat, but on the flip side we can be beaten by them. So we've got to be mentally prepared heading into these games."