MHKY | MRU sweeps MacEwan

Recap provided by MRU Cougars Sports Information. 

The Mount Royal University men’s hockey team has secured their place in the Canada West semi-finals.

“Boys are happy,” said Cougar’s captain Connor Blake. We worked our butts off this weekend, stuck to our process which we preached all season long and we got the job done.”  

Following a 4 – 1 victory over the MacEwan University Griffins on Friday evening, the Cougars clinched their second win with a 6 – 4 victory in the best-of-three series Saturday night. With these victories, the Cougars advance to the semi-finals, where they will compete against the University of Calgary Dinos.

Kyle Walker of the Cougars initiated the scoring, seizing control of the puck and slipping it past Griffin’s goalie Ashton Abel. 

The Griffins briefly took a 2 – 1 lead with goals from Sam Simard and Kadyn Chabot. However, Cougars Jaden Senkoe leveled the score before the end of the period. 

Vincent Scott of the Griffins gave his team a slight lead in the second period before Cougars Remy Aquilon tied the game 3 – 3.

The period concluded with the score leveled at 4 – 4, with goals from Cougars Robbie Holmes and Griffins Kole Gable.

The game ultimately swung in favour of the Cougars, with Robbie Fromm-Delorme and Jaden Senkoe scoring near the end of the third period.

Blake said that sticking to the team’s process was key in overcoming the Griffins. He acknowledged the Griffins aggressiveness in the game. 

“It’s always better for us when we keep things simple, get pucks to the net,” he said. “Grant MacEwan, they played really hard today, gave us a good run for our money. But we just stuck to our process. We got a group that has really bought in this year.” 

Looking forward to the semi-finals, Blake said the team is excited for the challenge the Dinos present.

“It’s the Crowchild rivalry,” he added. “There is a lot of animosity between the groups. Going to be a battle but I know everyone’s really looking forward to this fight that we’re going to have.”

Griffins head coach Zack Dailey expressed the difficulty of watching the season end and noted the high emotions that come with the loss.

“It’s always tough to end the season,” he said. “We have some very important fifth year guys that have played their final game so a lot of emotions.”

Dailey added he is proud of the way his team played, noting it was a big improvement over yesterday. 

“I thought it was a great response from yesterday,” he said.

Next weekend, the Cougars will aim to secure a spot in the Canada West finals as they face off against the Dinos in the semi-final round.