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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5]
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.[6] After the Griffins won the league title two months later, team captain Cam Gotaas presented the championship trophy to Lamothe's family.[7]
Season-by-season results
Intermediate hockey
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, SOL = Shootout Losses, Pts = Points
