Pochapsky's hat-trick leads Griffins past Ooks
Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – To say Michelle Pochapsky was in a satisfied mood after Saturday's game would be an understatement.
She was downright tickled pink after hanging a hat-trick on her old team, leading the MacEwan Griffins women's hockey team past NAIT 3-0.
"It feels really good, especially against my old team," said the fifth-year forward, who played for the Ooks from 2011 to 2013 before transferring to MacEwan. "That just adds to the stinger effect for them. It's definitely something I'll never forget."
Pochapsky, who led the ACAC in scoring last season, opened the scoring at 18:22 of the first period when she deflected Dominique Scheurer's shot from the right circle up and over NAIT goalie Karlee Fetch.
Then she scored an insurance marker for the Griffins at 11:35 of the third period, hustling onto a loose puck at the NAIT blueline, turning it into a breakaway and beating Fetch low blocker side.
She capped it off with an empty-netter from centre ice with 44 seconds left to ice it. Even though no hats rained down – kind of hard when the ice is encased in netting – it was a special moment.
"I think it's great for her," said Griffins head coach Lindsay McAlpine. "She's always emotionally invested when she plays against NAIT. There's a history there. She capitalized in key opportunities for us tonight.
"Obviously she was a standout player for us. I just mentioned to the players, though, that we need to see that it was a full team game."
Indeed it was. The Griffins actually might have played their most complete game of the season as they closed out NAIT to move to 4-2-0-0 in the standings, still undefeated at their new home in the Downtown Community Arena. It was the first loss the 5-1-0-0 Ooks have absorbed this season after they beat MacEwan 3-1 on Friday night.
"It was exactly what we needed for ourselves to come out and set the tone," said Pochapsky.
"Obviously it sucks losing, especially against a cross-town rival, so we knew we had to come out here and show them this is our barn and we can compete in this league just as good as you can."
Sandy Heim made 24 saves to pick up the shutout for MacEwan. She was solid again a night after stopping 34 of 36 on Friday.
"It's very important that you track the puck," she said. "If you see the puck and get the pucks from out of the zone, that's not that hard.
"Today they didn't get a lot of good shots, so it was just a matter of staying focused. That was the hardest thing for me."
Fetch stopped 32 of 35 for NAIT, a night after kicking out 29 of 30.
"The goalies have battled it out this whole weekend," said McAlpine. "They were both players of the game yesterday and again Fetch tonight played an outstanding game. Sandy made the saves when she needed to make the saves. She came up big for us."
While the Griffins head into a bye week before a series with Red Deer on Nov. 2 and 5, they'll be looking to carry over the momentum from playing perhaps their best game of the season.
"I think that was a big focus for us today was to play a complete team game," said McAlpine. "We did that. We played four lines deep the whole game. They dropped to two super early in the third period. And I think we were able to have all four lines playing the role we needed them to.
"I think when we do that, we find success. I hope the girls can see that after that win."
EDMONTON - To say Michelle Pochapsky was in a satisfied mood after Saturday's game would be an understatement.
She was downright tickled pink after hanging a hat-trick on her old team, leading the MacEwan Griffins women's hockey team past NAIT 3-0.
"It feels really good, especially against my old team," said the fifth-year forward, who played for the Ooks from 2011 to 2013 before transferring to MacEwan. "That just adds to the stinger effect for them. It's definitely something I'll never forget."
Pochapsky, who led the ACAC in scoring last season, opened the scoring at 18:22 of the first period when she deflected Dominique Scheurer's shot from the right circle up and over NAIT goalie Karlee Fetch.
Then she scored an insurance marker for the Griffins at 11:35 of the third period, hustling onto a loose puck at the NAIT blueline, turning it into a breakaway and beating Fetch low blocker side.
She capped it off with an empty-netter from centre ice with 44 seconds left to ice it. Even though no hats rained down – kind of hard when the ice is encased in netting – it was a special moment.
"I think it's great for her," said Griffins head coach Lindsay McAlpine. "She's always emotionally invested when she plays against NAIT. There's a history there. She capitalized in key opportunities for us tonight.
"Obviously she was a standout player for us. I just mentioned to the players, though, that we need to see that it was a full team game."
Indeed it was. The Griffins actually might have played their most complete game of the season as they closed out NAIT to move to 4-2-0-0 in the standings, still undefeated at their new home in the Downtown Community Arena. It was the first loss the 5-1-0-0 Ooks have absorbed this season after they beat MacEwan 3-1 on Friday night.
"It was exactly what we needed for ourselves to come out and set the tone," said Pochapsky.
"Obviously it sucks losing, especially against a cross-town rival, so we knew we had to come out here and show them this is our barn and we can compete in this league just as good as you can."
Sandy Heim made 24 saves to pick up the shutout for MacEwan. She was solid again a night after stopping 34 of 36 on Friday.
"It's very important that you track the puck," she said. "If you see the puck and get the pucks from out of the zone, that's not that hard.
"Today they didn't get a lot of good shots, so it was just a matter of staying focused. That was the hardest thing for me."
Fetch stopped 32 of 35 for NAIT, a night after kicking out 29 of 30.
"The goalies have battled it out this whole weekend," said McAlpine. "They were both players of the game yesterday and again Fetch tonight played an outstanding game. Sandy made the saves when she needed to make the saves. She came up big for us."
While the Griffins head into a bye week before a series with Red Deer on Nov. 2 and 5, they'll be looking to carry over the momentum from playing perhaps their best game of the season.
"I think that was a big focus for us today was to play a complete team game," said McAlpine. "We did that. We played four lines deep the whole game. They dropped to two super early in the third period. And I think we were able to have all four lines playing the role we needed them to.
"I think when we do that, we find success. I hope the girls can see that after that win."