The MacEwan Griffins men's ice hockey team is an ice hockey team representing the MacEwan Griffins athletics program of MacEwan University. The team is a member of the Canada West Universities Athletic Association conference and compete in U Sports. The Griffins play their home games at the Downtown Community Arena in Edmonton, Alberta.
History Relative to other Canadian universities, MacEwan is a rather recent addition to ice hockey circles. The Griffins hit the ice for the first time in 1998 as members of the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference, a second-tier league outside U Sports. Rob Davis helmed the team for the first three seasons but saw little success. Immediately after Terry Ewasiuk took over, the team posted its first winning season and finished as league runners-up. After another second-place result, MacEwan won its first conference title in 2004, however, since the national CCAA championship had been discontinued by that point, the program had to settle for being the best team in their conference. Ewasiuk remained with the club until 2007, never having a losing season.
After having professor Bryan Keller helm the team for a year, Jamie Langley was brought in as the fourth head coach. Langley's 4-year tenure saw the team finish at least 10 games below-.500 in each season. The club missed the postseason three years running, making the only time the Griffins had not played a playoff game outside of its time under Davis. Bram Stephen was hired in 2012 to rebuild the program and, after a slow start, he succeeded. MacEwan steadily climbed back to the top of the ACAC and, by 2017, the Griffins were able to win their second league title.
Michael Ringrose assumed the reins in 2017 and kept the good times rolling. MacEwan won the league championship in each of his first two seasons and the dominance of the program helped to convince Canada West to accept both the men's and women's ice hockey teams as members beginning in 2020. In their final season with the ACAC, MacEwan was in contention for a fourth consecutive championship when the conference tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The outbreak also caused the cancellation of the entire Canadian college season in 2020–21, delaying MacEwan's entry into senior hockey by a year.
MacEwan made its Canada West debut in the fall of 2021. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the team had trouble winning in its first campaign as it got up to speed with the higher level of hockey. Zack Dailey took over as coach in 2022, eventually leading the Griffins to their first postseason appearance in his second season.
Nakehko Lamothe After a game against SAIT on January 25, 2019, 23-year-old Nakehko Lamothe went into cardiac arrest and collapsed in the visiting dressing room. The third-year player was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead just before midnight. Both his team and family were shocked, having no knowledge of any medical issues prior to Nakehko's death. After the Griffins won the league title two months later, team captain Cam Gotaas presented the championship trophy to Lamothe's family.
Season-by-season results Intermediate hockey Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, SOL = Shootout Losses, Pts = Points U Sports Champion U Sports SemifinalistConference regular season championsConference Division ChampionsConference Playoff Champions SeasonConferenceRegular SeasonConference Tournament ResultsNational Tournament Results Conference OverallGPWLTOTLSOWSOLPts*FinishGPWLT% 1998–99ACAC283241–––78th283241 1999–00ACAC281013––23275th3010155 Lost Quarterfinal series, 0–2 (Red Deer) 2000–01ACAC2871731––187th287183 2001–02ACAC2819621––412nd3421112 Won Semifinal series, 2–1 (NAIT)Lost Championship series, 0–3 (SAIT) 2002–03ACAC2814842––34T–3rd4021154 Won Quarterfinal series, 2–1 (Augustana)Won Semifinal series, 3–1 (NAIT)Lost Championship series, 2–3 (Concordia) 2003–04ACAC2820422––44 1st342662 Won Semifinal series, 3–0 (Mount Royal)Won Championship series, 3–0 (NAIT) 2004–05ACAC2416620––34T–2nd3623112 Won Quarterfinal series, 2–0 (Concordia)Won Semifinal series, 3–2 (NAIT)Lost Championship series, 2–3 (SAIT) 2005–06ACAC2411841––27T–3rd2611114 Lost Quarterfinal series, 0–2 (Concordia) 2006–07ACAC2414910––294th2715111 Lost Quarterfinal series, 1–2 (Concordia) 2007–08ACAC2414820––30T–2nd3419132 Won Quarterfinal series, 2–1 (Briercrest)Won Semifinal series, 3–1 (Concordia)Lost Championship series, 0–3 (SAIT) 2008–09ACAC28819–1––178th288200 2009–10ACAC2842301––98th284240 2010–11ACAC2832320––88th283232 2011–12ACAC2881811––186th308211 Lost Quarterfinal series, 0–3 (SAIT) 2012–13ACAC2891900––18T–6th309210 Lost Quarterfinal series, 0–2 (Alberta Augustana) 2013–14ACAC32151430––335th3516163 Lost Quarterfinal series, 1–2 (Red Deer) 2014–15ACAC3221731––463rd3522103 Lost Quarterfinal series, 1–2 (Keyano) 2015–16ACAC32141413––326th3515191 Lost Quarterfinal series, 1–2 (Keyano) 2016–17ACAC2821601––432nd332580 Won Semifinal series, 2–0 (SAIT)Won Championship series, 2–1 (NAIT) 2017–18ACAC2820701––432nd332490 Won Semifinal series, 2–0 (Red Deer)Won Championship series, 2–1 (NAIT) 2018–19ACAC2819711––40T–2nd332391 Won Semifinal series, 2–1 (Red Deer)Won Championship series, 2–0 (NAIT) 2019–20ACAC2820701––413rd31 †22 †9 †0 † Won Quarterfinal series, 2–1 (Concordia)Remainder of postseason cancelled Totals GP W L T/SOL %ChampionshipsRegular Season 612 310 285 37 1 ACAC ChampionshipConference Post-season 84 45 39 0 4 ACAC ChampionshipsRegular Season and Postseason Record 696 355 324 37 † Sean Ringrose served as interim head coach for 22 games while Michael Ringrose was on paternity leave.
Senior hockey Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, SOL = Shootout Losses, Pts = Points U Sports Champion U Sports SemifinalistConference regular season championsConference Division ChampionsConference Playoff Champions SeasonConferenceRegular SeasonConference Tournament ResultsNational Tournament Results Conference OverallGPWLTOTLSOLPts*FinishGPWLT%2020–21 Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic2021–22Canada West20317–0068th203170 2022–23Canada West28918–10197th289190 2023–24Canada West28917–02206th309192 Lost Quarterfinal series, 0–2 (Mount Royal) Totals GP W L T/SOL %ChampionshipsRegular Season 76 21 53 2 Conference Post-season 2 0 2 0 U Sports Postseason 0 0 0 0 Regular Season and Postseason Record 78 21 55 2 Note: Games not counted towards University Cup appearances are not included.
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