CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos men's hockey team was held to one goal by MacEwan University Griffins goaltender Carson Ironside, falling 3-1 in Canada West play Friday night at Father David Bauer Arena.
The loss drops the Dinos to 2-4-1, while the Griffins improve to 3-3-1. Calgary outshot MacEwan 28-21 overall, but Ironside stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced.
"We all have to be better, from the coaching staff to the players," said Dinos head coach
Mark Howell. "We had another really slow start, and we weren't ready to play, and that falls on me and falls on the players. It falls on all of us."
The Griffins tested Dinos goaltender
Carl Tetachuk twice in the opening minute, while Calgary's first good look came when
Riley Gannon pounced on a MacEwan turnover in their own end.
MacEwan struck first with just over nine minutes left in the first period. Ethan Sundar picked the puck off a Dino at the blue line, went in alone and beat Tetachuk with a forehand-to-backhand move. Less than two minutes later, Ironside robbed the Dinos on an attempted cross-crease pass.
Calgary had a surge of shots on the power play with about seven minutes left in the period and swarmed the net with less than two minutes remaining, but Ironside stood tall between the pipes.
MacEwan held the puck for most of the second period, outshooting the Dinos 10-3 in the middle frame. Tetachuk made a strong save on a Griffins power play just over two minutes into the period, but the relief was quickly brushed aside when MacEwan's Sam Simard finished a two-on-one breakout with a laser through Tetachuk to make it 2-0 with about two-thirds of the period remaining.
The Dinos got on the board early in the third period.
Dylan Anderson's long shot from the blue line was redirected by Gannon for his first goal of the season to shorten the lead to 2-1. With about a minute left in regulation, Jack Parker sealed the win for MacEwan, sending a shot from the Griffins' goal line into the empty net for a 3-1 final. Simard assisted.
"We have to play smarter and we have to play harder," Howell said. "We have to be heavier and more difficult to play against and we're just not right now."
The Dinos will return to action Saturday, Oct. 31, when they travel to face the Griffins at the Downtown Community Arena in Edmonton at 5 p.m. The game can be seen live on Canada West TV powered by BioSteel.
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