Ooks and Griffins to face off in Women's Hockey Championships
This year's 2019-2020 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Women's Hockey Championships will feature the same two schools from 2018-2019 as the three-time defending champion Grant MacEwan Griffins take on the NAIT Ooks.
How did they get here?
Semi-Finals
MacEwan made quick work of the SAIT Trojans in their best-of-three semi-final with 4-2 and 5-1 scores in back-to-back games this past Thursday and Friday.
"We knew SAIT was going to come out flying," said Griffins' captain Morgan Casson in an interview following the opening win Thursday at the Downtown Community Arena.
"They just had a great weekend against Olds. We knew they were going to come out confident and play hard, play big and play tough. I think it did put us on our heels a bit at the drop of the puck, but we just fought through it and started to play our game."
Griffins' netminder Natalie Bender had 29 saves while in the closer Brianna Sank made 13 saves.
Griffins' Jill MacWilliam, Sydney Hughson and Chantal Ricker scored a goal in each matchup.
MacEwan was top-ranked in the ACAC regular season, 21 wins 3 losses 80 goals for 34 goals against and were coming in with a 14-game winning streak.
Make that 16-game winning streak now.
SAIT was fourth in the five-school ACAC circuit behind a stats line of 7 wins 16 losses 1 overtime tie 50 goals for and 70 goals against.
"Yeah, it was a heartbreaker," said Trojans captain 5th-year Tashel Scantlebury in an interview following Friday's loss. "But, I am really proud of this team and how we responded in the third. Everything was left out there on the ice. It was a fun season with this group of girls."
The other best-of-three semi-final series featured No. 2 ranked Red Deer Queens (15 wins 6 losses 3 overtime losses 60 goals for 54 goals against) against the No. 3 ranked NAIT Ooks (13 wins 9 losses 2 overtime losses 64 goals for 59 goals against).
During the 24-game regular season, the two teams had met six times, each winning three games with each team accumulating 17 goals in the series.
Ooks claimed a convincing 5-2 decision in the opening game Friday behind the three-goal performance of Megan Leblanc.
Ooks goalie Kaitlyn Slator made 9 saves. Queen's goalie Karlee Fetch made 18 saves.
Despite two power-play goals by NAIT, Red Deer came back to win Saturday 4-3 with the winning goal at 16:11 on an Ashley Sutherland power play.
Sunday's game went in favour of the Ooks, 3-2 in the second overtime with Jordan McMillan scoring at 8.52.
Championship Preview
Grant MacEwan University Griffins
Downtown Community Arena
ACAC Championships: 4
Head Coach: Lindsay MacAlpine
Young Guns
Chantal Ricker 24 games 12 goals 10 assists 22 points
Shyla Jans 24 games 8 goals 11 assists 19 points
Morgan Casson 21 games 8 goals 9 assists 17 points
The Puck Stops Here
Brianna Sank 13 games 16 goals against 1.35 GAA 193 Saves
Natalie Bender 13 games 17 goals against 1.39 GAA 229 Saves
The Five Ps
Power Play Goals: 19
Power Play Opportunities: 106
Power Play Goals Against: 8
Penalty Kill Percentage: 89.6
PIM: 179
NAIT Ooks
NAIT Arena
ACAC Championships: 3
Head Coach: Stef Thomson
Young Guns
Megan Leblanc 21 games 14 goals 11 assists 25 points
Lívia Lučová 23 games 4 goals 14 assists 18 points
Brittney Savard 24 games 10 goals 5 assists 15 points
The Puck Stops Here
Kaitlyn Slator 18 games 40 goals against 2.23 GAA 400 Saves
Ashley Smith 5 games 7 goals against 1.35 GAA 149 saves
The Five Ps
Power Play Goals: 18
Power Play Opportunities: 104
Power Play Goals Against: 17
Penalty Kill Percentage: 84.7
PIM: 252