Golden Bears hockey takes a desperation win against MacEwan

Is there anything better than beating the MacEwan Griffins? Maybe beating the Griffins after losing to them 4-3, in your own barn, the night prior.

After ending a 14-game win-streak, the Golden Bears hockey team pulled off a necessary 5-2 win on January 4, in what was far from a perfect game — or at least first period.

In fact, the Bears gave up the first two goals of the game. This tone was set the night before, due to bad turnovers, too many penalties, and no chemistry.

“We need to stop making the bad decisions, the horrendous plays. Just keeping it simple, getting it 200 feet, sacrificing, getting in lanes, paying the price, bearing down on face-offs. Which we still need to keep working at, but that was the difference from tonight and last night,” head coach Ian Herbers said.

“The difference,” as Herbers put it, was a result of mixing up every forward line. This decision finally made the players click in the second period.

Switched lines saved the Bears

“The forward lines were good tonight. I liked all of them. I thought they all played hard. With Christmas break, our guys had the opportunity to play with different people, and they’ve stepped up. I thought the lines, the combinations, were all good tonight,” Herbers said

Most surprising, in a good way, was moving Connor McClennon onto Brett Hyland and Sean Tshcigerl’s line, while moving Josh Prokop up with Eric Florchuk and Jakin Smallwood.

“When those two work hard together, they create a lot of chances, and I thought McClennon complimented them well. On this other side of it, Prokop went back with for Florchuk and Smallwood, a very good line for us last year, the year before, and the year before that. So it was nice to see that combination working well tonight as well.”

Whether it was from line changes, or just desperation, Hyland and Tschigerl played a much stronger game. They each took a goal in their second game back from respective injuries.

“Hyland’s been out for a while. So he’s just trying to figure out his time and get used to things. Tschigerl played a better game tonight as well. He was more determined on pucks. Made simpler plays, smarter plays.”

Defence, and less mistakes, brought home the win

In the complete opposite direction, all defensive lines stayed the same, propelling the team in a defensive game. They were led by Marc Lajoie, who took a goal on the power play, five on five, and a special hat, all back-to-back. This marked the first time a blue liner has gotten a hat trick since the 2003-04 season.

But this is the type of game Herbers wants to play.

“When our defence contributes to the offence, we talk about them. We want all our guys being involved in the offence. I thought we did a lot better job on that tonight,” Herbers said.

He’s right. With less turnovers, more penalties drawn than taken, and stronger lines, the Bears proved they’re in a good spot to take on the Calgary Dinos next weekend, in their only regular season matchup.

“We know Calgary always plays tough. They got a very good team. Olympic size ice down in Calgary. So use that ice to our advantage. When we’re back in our building, make sure we’ve worn them out as much as possible. We’ve got to make them chase us.”