The Portage Voyageurs split a weekend home-and-home series with the ACAC's defending champs, the Grant MacEwan University Griffins. The Voyageurs lost 7-1 to the Griffins in Edmonton Friday night, but returned to their Bold Center home ice to take the MacEwan team 4-3 on Saturday. It is the Voyageurs first win of the season — and the first loss for the Griffins.
The big win is hoped to be a turning point for the Voyageurs in the league standings — and in the dressing room.
"It's probably the happiest that I've seen our guys in the dressing room since I got here," said Voyageur Coach Nate Bedford, hoping the confidence of beating the best team in the league continues to drive the young squad. "It can be a great momentum changer."
While Friday night's game result looks like a runaway on the scoreboard, the actual game was pretty even until the last period. Portage scored the opening goal of the game at the three minute mark, with Grant MacEwan equalizing before the end of the period. The Griffins scored two more in the second period.
Going into the dressing room just two goals down to last year's ACAC champs, Bedford said his team was keeping positive.
"It was only 3 to 1. It was close and they knew that. After the second when they came to the dressing room, there was not of that, 'oh no, we're done' attitude," he said. "They knew that they had to keep going and if they could get one back, they could get two."
Those two however, came from the Griffins. And they came fast. Two goals just 20 seconds apart before the first two minutes of play had ticked of the clock put the Voyageurs in a deficit they couldn't get out of. Portage netminder Jordan Brant faced 55 shots in the game.
"Could they have played better? sure. But it was a good game against a good team," said Bedford.
Playing at home on Saturday, the coach said his team held onto the belief that they could match skills with the Griffins. Even when Grant MacEwan jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening minutes of the game, Bedford saw the new resilience of his team.
"They kept working really hard," said the coach, impressed by three unanswered goals by the Voyageurs to take the lead back as they went into the dressing room after the first period.
The second period had no scoring as the Griffins poured on the pressure and the Voyageurs responded with strong defence ... and a near-perfect performance from netminder Taryn Kotchorek.
"He was one of the main reasons we won," said Bedford of the Voyageur goalie's efforts in stopping 55 shots on net by the final whistle — including a blitz of MacEwan attackers during a Voyageur penalty kill with just six minutes to go in the game. "It was a poor penalty, but we didn't panic. They were under pressure, but they faced the adversity. We played it out, and we took the win."
We can do this
Bedford hopes his team realizes that by beating the league's defending champs that they can contenders in every game. Last season, the Voyageurs won just three of their 26 league games. The Griffins won 20 of 26. Bedford said the this season's win in their first weekend matchup is a mental victory for his team as well as on the league stats sheet.
"It was a really tough game against a very tough team, but we stayed with it. We were confident and we were not intimidated. That is a program-changing shift if we decide to follow it."
Helping to support the mental victory of Saturday's win, a strong physical effort will be taking place on the Voyageurs' practice ice this week.
"Leading up to last weekend's games, we were really intense in the practices, even on Thursday, so probably unfortunately for our guys," the coach said with a grin, "we'll go hard again this week if that's what it takes to be successful."
The win over the Griffins puts the Voyageurs in sixth place of the eight-team Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference standings with a 1-3 record. The Griffins' 3-1 record dropped from a three-way tie for first spot with undefeated SAIT and Red Deer College.
Portage takes their first win of the season and looks for more in three straight away games starting with a double-header against last-in-the league Briercrest this Friday and Saturday. The Voyageurs beat Briercrest in two league exhibition games in September. The next home game for the Voyageurs is Saturday November 3 against the Augustana Vikings. That game starts at 7 pm. at the Bold Center.
Winning bracket
Briercrest is currently one point below the Voyageurs in the standings and Augustana is two points above, so Bedford sees the next games as potential continuations of his team's winning ways — but it will take a continuation of that positive mindset too.
"We are pretty happy with the win on Saturday, and hopefully the players don't forget that feeling as we go forward."
