NAIT and MacEwan stoke embers of red-hot rivalry
Men’s hockey programs face off for ACAC championship for second straight year
Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but the rivalry between the NAIT Ooks and the MacEwan Griffins men’s hockey teams is actually heating up.
They will meet in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference best-ofthree final for the second consecutive season with NAIT looking to avenge a loss to MacEwan last year.
Game 1 of the series takes place at NAIT (7 p.m.) on Friday. Game 2 is at the Edmonton Downtown Community Arena (6 p.m.) on Saturday and, if necessary, the deciding game is at NAIT (6:30 p.m.) on Sunday.
“Obviously NAIT has a storied history in the ACAC and without a doubt are one of the premier programs in the league,” said Griffins head coach Michael Ringrose. “We feel like we’re pushing to be included in that conversation as well. If you look at what happened last year and how we were able to build on that this year, we think we’re also a premier program.”
Last season’s ACAC championship was the first for MacEwan since 2004 and ended NAIT’s twoyear run. NAIT has won 16 ACAC titles since the inception of the league in 1965. MacEwan has two championships since joining the league in 1998.
NAIT and MacEwan finished first and second respectively in the ACAC standings this season. The teams met four times with the Ooks winning three of the encounters.
“Our league is really underrated; MacEwan is right there with us as well,” said Ooks head coach Tim Fragle. “We were one-two in the league this year and it’s two strong programs.
“Just in the short time I’ve been here, I’ve really felt the league has gotten stronger. All six teams that made the playoffs this year were really strong. I would even take it from last year, there were probably four teams that were really good. Now you see it the year after that the parity is improving and that will benefit the league long term.”
NAIT swept the Augustana Vikings last weekend in their bestof-three semifinal series to book its spot in this year’s final, while MacEwan dispatched the Red Deer Kings in two games to set up the rematch.
“Last year’s final was extremely emotional and I’m expecting a lot of the same this year,” said MacEwan fifth-year forward Ryan Benn, 26. “Most people know about NAIT’s program and how good they’ve been for so long. It’s going to be competitive. They’re probably going to be looking to right the wrong that happened, in their eyes, from last year. It’s not like you need extra motivation at this time of year, but if they want it, it’s there. But we’re just as motivated to go back to the same place that we did last year.”
MacEwan returned a large core of its team this season and had a strong second half after a rocky start under Ringrose, who was the interim coach until awarded the position permanently Wednesday. The Griffins finished with a 20-7-1 regular-season record and
Last year’s final was extremely emotional and I’m expecting a lot of the same this year.
on a seven-game win streak. NAIT was undefeated throughout the year until dropping its last three games of the regular season, having already clinched first place. They finished with a 21-3-3 record.
“On both rosters, MacEwan and ours, there are top-end Junior A players from the AJHL and the BCHL and both teams have half a dozen former WHL players as well,” Fragle said. “So it’s a combination of that brand of hockey where we’re getting the high-end recruits out of Junior A and some Western league graduates as well.”