Trojans battle hard, but come up short

CALGARY, ALTA., (Nov. 22, 2019) - Tom Molloy could only shake his head and smile.

After playing their best game of the season, his Trojans women's hockey team came up short, losing 3-1 to the MacEwan University Griffins in their Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) game played at SAIT Arena.

"MacEwan are the three-time defending champions, and are the best team in the league again this year and we were right there with them tonight. We could have won this game," said the head coach. "It was a flip of the coin kind of game."

The tough loss drops SAIT's record to 1-8 on the season. MacEwan improves to 8-3.

"The girls know they could have won that game, and it wasn't a game where our goalie didn't have to make 45 saves," Molloy added. "We hung in there, and we maybe even surprised ourselves with how much we competed tonight."

It didn't take long for the Trojans to impose their will, as they scored just 41 seconds into the game when Kelsey Patterson (2nd year, Castlegar, BC, Civil Engineering Technology) forced a turnover at her own blue line giving her a breakaway. 

She made no mistake, beating Griffins keeper Brianna Sank upstairs to put her team up 1-0.

Unfortunately, that would be the only goal Patterson's team would score despite numerous chances the rest of the game.

MacEwan waited until the second period to tie it when Jordyn Reimer beat SAIT goalie Cassidy Brown (1st year, Calgary, Health Fundamentals) after the Trojans turned over the puck in their own zone.

In the third, both teams battled hard to create scoring chances.

SAIT's best chances came when they earned a 5-on-3 power play in which they could not score on. During that stretch, the Griffins were called for putting a hand over the puck in the crease, giving the Trojans a penalty shot.

Patterson got the nod, and tried a backhand deke, but could not beat Sank.

Not long after, the Griffins broke the 1-1 tie when Jayme Doyle's shot from just inside the blue line beat Brown, who appeared to lose the puck off the stick.

Two minutes later, Chantal Ricker added an insurance marker for the visitors.

"Our performance tonight shows that we are not far off from making a run," Molloy finished. "We have a lot of positives to take from this one."

The teams will wrap their weekend series Saturday evening in Edmonton at 6pm.