2016-2017 ACAC Men's Hockey Championship
by ACAC Sports Writer Curtis J. Phillips
Two. Two. Two mints in one.
The above idiomatic expression from the Certs breath mint commercials has been a main stay for what seems like eons.
Two. Two. Two championships in one may now be attributed to the MacEwan University Griffins hockey program, which has now captured both the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) men's and women's hockey banners.
The women Griffins, coached by Lindsay MacAlpine, had defeated the SAIT Trojans 2-1 in the best-of-three series which was completed Saturday March 11, 2017 for their first women's banner since 2007-2008.
2016-17 ACAC Women's Hockey Player of the Year Sandy Helm had been brilliant in net, stopping 75 Trojans shots while allowing in only five goals in the series.
It was now the Griffins men's turn as they tested the skills of cross-town rival and two-time defending ACAC champion NAIT Ooks.
Last time the Griffins had skated around the rink as ACAC champions was way back in 2003-2004.
The best-of-three series had the puck dropping Friday March 17, 2017 with the Griffins at NAIT Arena.
The Griffins needed double overtime to win 3-2 with a shorthand goal by second year forward Brett Njaa at 9:56.
There was no scoring in the first and third periods with second period goals by Ooks' Wyatt Noskey on the power play (17:49) and Jaris Hauptman (19:36).
Griffins players who broke the mesh were Ryan Benn power play (5:11) and Dallas Smith (8:11).
Marc-Olivier Daigle stopped 49 shots in the win while counterpart Brendan Jensen repelled 44.
"The D man was playing outside and he (Njaa) was able to make a creative play," said Griffins head coach Bram Stephen of Njaa's winning goal. "It was a fantastic individual play and it says a lot about (Njaa)."
NAIT Ooks came back in Game 2 at the Downtown Community Arena, home ice for the Griffins, with a sound 4-1 decision Saturday night.
Griffins had opened scoring with a first period power play goal at 17:29 by Ryan Benn.
A second period backhander by Kyler Hehn (5:52) tied the contest; Ooks shooters coming alive in the third with goals by Jordan Abt (00:26), Tanner Dunkle (18:49) on an empty net and Cameron Brezinski unassisted at 19:00.
Jensen, named ACAC Hockey Player of the Year, turned away 23 shots while Griffins' Daigle made 36 saves.
"Despite the score it was a close game as it was 2-1 for 50 minutes," said Stephen. "NAIT did a great job and they did a couple of adjustments on their roster that made them deeper and they came at us a lot harder.
"They just smothered us and it surprised our guys a bit and it wasn't the same as it was Friday. They played with desperation."
Prior to Sunday's game the Griffins had a team meeting that morning.
"We chatted about dealing with the pressure," said Stephen. "All weekend long we really preached as a group, that we should enjoy it and play loose and play free. A "We had everything to gain and nothing to lose" mentality.
Returning to their opponent's home ice later that evening, the two teams would once again go into overtime and the Griffins would once again would look to the young man from Birch Hills, Saskatchewan to bring home the banner with Njaa netting the winner at 4:51.
Of the golden goal Njaa , as quoted by Griffins Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Sports Information Officer, said, "It bounced off the end wall and it was right on my stick. I don't remember what happened after that.
Stephen added: "It's incredible. These guys … we battled so hard. We came back from 3-1 down. Everyone's counting us out. We never quit. These guys are incredible. I can't say enough about this team."
Ooks three goals came on two first period power plays Tyler Yaworski (10:52) and Abt (19:05) with a third period shorthanded maker by Cameron Brezinski (8:13).
Griffins opened scoring at 8:02 of the first with Cameron Gotaas getting his name on the score sheet while third period power play scores by Gottas (11:13) and Nolan Yaremchuk (19:02) sent the game into extra periods.
Of the double hockey banners, a first for the Griffins, Stephen was quoted: "Lindsay and I are very close and a few weeks ago we were talking about our teams and both felt very similarly about the character in our room. We kind of thought 'maybe this could happen.' I think that was a fleeting thought – we didn't really circle back to it again.
"I'm really proud of her and her program. I think she thinks the same for us."