Golden Bears see more fighting than play making against Trinity Western

The University of Alberta Golden Bears hockey team has yet to learn its lesson.

With 40 penalty minutes against Trinity Western on February 1 and two 10-minute misconducts for Mason Ward, the Bears find themselves firmly secured as the most penalized team in Canada West. They sit just above the Saskatchewan Huskies by give or take 111 minutes. No big deal.

At least it wasn’t a big deal when their penalty kill could justify all the time in the box. Now their short-handed goals have run dry and head coach Ian Herbers is done talking about the penalty kills momentum in favour of wishing it would just stop.

“Injuries or suspensions happen out of that. So we got to be smarter and stay out of that stuff,” Herbers said.

We thought 43 penalty minutes last Saturday against the Huskies, followed by Monday’s over-extended practice, would be the Bears’ wakeup call. After all, it was a big component that cost them their top seeded position in the conference. Alas, the Bears can’t keep their gloves down, Ward wont keep his mouth shut, and offset penalties aren’t cutting it.

“We can’t be taking retaliatory penalties or getting into those scrums and extra stuff.”

It doesn’t matter that the fighting didn’t start till the third, bringing with it 16 penalties. The Bears’ 5-2 win on February 1 against Trinity Western felt like anything but. They were chasing for the first half of the game, saved only by a three goal series started by Alex Thacker in the only 10 minutes of solid hockey.

“We didn’t want to get to the net, we didn’t want to get dirty. We wanted to perimeter play and when you play like that, you’re not going to score. Doesn’t matter who you’re playing against, which goalie it is,” Herbers said.

He’s right.

When the Bears play perimeter and look for fights, it doesn’t matter how many points the other team has. The Bears won’t look good, just lucky.

Had this been Mount Royal in round two of the playoffs, fighting for a spot in the Canada West championship and U Sports qualifier, the Bears wouldn’t be adding plus-three to their goal differential. They’d be going home wondering where they went wrong in the longest three hour bus ride of their life.

It’s an ugly picture we’ve painted and come the beginning of March, it might be how the Bears choose to end their season.

Solid performance from solid lines

“Teams will want to mix it up and try and get our guys off our game, out of the lineup, suspended for playoffs coming down the stretch here. So we need to be smarter and play smarter.”

Cue Tyler Palmer, whose 2.07 goals against average doesn’t properly convey his weekend performance or expected playoff burst. At this point Ethan Kruger’s slow and risky recovery doesn’t affect who will start in important playoff games, but who will take over if Palmer has to step back. Ethan Lawcynski, with no conference experience, is a choice most would rather see not made, despite his improvement in practice.

Same goes for Bruce MacGregor who’s now back on the Bears’ offensive line after his defensive stint, prolonged only by Ward’s suspension.

“[MacGregor] goes out and tries to earn it every day. He was put in a tough situation playing defence for two or three weeks for us. I thought he did a fantastic job. He’s never played there before, so he’s been good. It’s sometimes a good experience for you to play defence and see what it’s like on the other end of the stick. So I think that’ll help his game,” Herbers said.

It has. Now that he’s back on the fourth line, it’s a matter of solidifying which rotational players will play with Ty Nash and Sam Popowich. Likely the ones that keep their head down and play where they’re needed, not where the penalties take them.