Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Championship culture starts with viewing a team as a family.
That's exactly what new MacEwan Griffins women's hockey captain Shyla Kirwer brought up when asked what she could take from her experience winning two-straight Esso Cup championships with the St. Albert Slash prior to coming to MacEwan.
"I think it's really just coming together, that's the main thing," she said. "When you act as a family, that's when you become the best version of your team."
Family puts no one first and no one last. All are important.
"I think that really just puts it into perspective that when you have a strong leadership group, you're able to come together towards a common goal, which I hope to bring with the Griffins this year," said Kirwer.
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— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) October 5, 2022
New @MacEwanHockey captain Shyla Kirwer brings championship experience, a positive attitude & sets the example with her work ethic. She leads @MacEwanU into its @CanadaWest home opener vs. @PandasHockey (FRI, 7 PM, DCA).#GriffNation
STORY➡️https://t.co/xvYI13tb2r pic.twitter.com/NdTGvSuoK9
Interim head coach Chris Leeming said Kirwer was the clear choice to wear the 'C' this season after a team vote on the matter.
"We also did a questionnaire on why people picked who they did," said Leeming. "Pulling some key themes from that, it said she had built a lot of key relationships with the team, and she had a lot of trust from her teammates. That stood out to me.
"You see it day to day as well in the way she conducts herself, how she interacts with her teammates. That's off the ice. On the ice, she has attention to detail, she sacrifices through blocked shots and playing physical. She's done essentially everything we've asked of the group. She leads by example. She's academically strong as well."
Kirwer will lead the Griffins into their home opener vs. cross-town rival Alberta on Friday (7 p.m., Downtown Community Arena). The teams will also meet at Clare Drake Arena on Saturday (2 p.m., both Canada West TV).
Also in the Griffins' leadership group are assistant captains Amanda Murray, Sydney Hughson, Rylee Gluska and Makenna Schuttler.
"Overall, they're just outstanding individuals and human beings," said Leeming. "I think that's set them apart. Not to say we don't have other good people on the team, but they've really bought into our team values of family, respect, and growth. They demonstrate those things on a day-to-day basis, and they just treat their teammates how they should be treated.
"I think a lot of people respect that in them. They have a second-to-none work ethic, and they lead by example on and off the ice."
Shyla Kirwer and Sage Sansregret discuss a play during action in Regina last weekend (University of Regina photo).
Both teams come into the weekend series with 1-1-0 records after MacEwan split an opening weekend series in Regina and Alberta took 1-of-2 off Mount Royal.
The Griffins took the Pandas to overtime before falling 3-2 in a preseason meeting Sept. 16.
"We had a pretty good showing against (Alberta) in preseason," said Leeming. "We lost in overtime. I think that was a confidence boost for our group moving forward, knowing we're able to be in games with them. We've had a good week of practice so far and we're continuing to build on that, so we have the right mindset heading into this weekend."
Kirwer said it's a different mindset for the group heading into their second Canada West season as they push to take the next step towards a playoff berth.
"I think it was a big learning curve for us, moving from ACAC to Canada West, but I think we really took it in stride," she said. "We kind of found our footing in the league. I think we're more respected this year and we really proved that throughout the preseason games we had this year.
"Obviously, we're pushing for a playoff spot," she added, "but we like to take the mentality of taking it game by game. Hopefully we get more wins this year and just make that push at the end."
