EDMONTON, ALTA. - The NAIT Ooks fell to the MacEwan Griffins 5-2 in game one of the ACAC Men's Hockey Championship on Friday night in the NAIT Arena. 

The teams came out both equally matched, exchanging chances. Brett Njaa opened up the scoring for the MacEwan Griffins as an errant puck found him in the slot, which he then fired home past Ooks Goaltender Brendan, Jensen to give his team a 1-0 lead through twenty minutes. 

In the second period, the Griffins added to their lead early. Stefan Danielson took a cross-ice feed to then beat Brendan Jensen over the glove. Jacob Schofield added a third MacEwan goal followed up with another by Brett Smythe to give MacEwan a commanding 4-0 lead. 

In the final period, the Ooks came to play. A little under five minutes in, Tanner Younghans would put NAIT on the board as he one-timed a pass from Colton Waltz through Marc-Oliver Daigle's five-hole. NAIT would continue to push out, out-chancing the Griffins. Tanner Dunkle added one more for the Ooks with 3:30 remaining to make it 4-2. That would unfortunately be all the Ooks could do. Brett Smythe would add an empty netterit to take the game 5-2. 

"We were awful for 40 minutes tonight, not enough energy and execution," said NAIT head coach Tim Fragle. "In the third we were able figure it out, hopefully the guys can carry that momentum into game two, as its a must win."

Game two will take place at the Downtown Community Arena in Rogers place at 6:00 pm tomorrow night.