Connor Hood, Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics
EDMONTON - Alberta Golden Bears strikers Easton Ongaro and Ajeej Sarkaria completed their stellar regular seasons on Saturday afternoon, as the pair combined for five points in a 4-1 Alberta win over MacEwan.
Ongaro scored three of the four Bears goals, with Sarkaria scoring the other, and assisting on an Ongaro tally in the first half. The win is the Bears 12th this season, as they conclude regular season play with a 12-0-2 record, tops in the Prairie division of CW.
The loss is the ninth for MacEwan, as they were officially eliminated from post-season contention. The Bears, meanwhile, will host a conference quater-final match next weekend, hosting the Pacific divisions No. 4 seed on Saturday.
The two Bears scoring machines also finish the season tied for the conference points lead with 20 each. With the hat-trick, Ongaro also finishes as the conference's leading scorer with 16 goals in 14 games. Ongaro's goal total, as well as Sarkaria's nine assists are also the highest marks in U SPORTS.
Ongaro opened the Bears scoring just 19 minutes in, taking a feed from Sarkaria inside the Griffins box, and beating MacEwan starter Marko Vranjkovic on a bullet into the corner. The sophomore Bear doubled the Alberta lead 20 minutes later, tapping in a phenominal pass from Tomasz Chodorski.
It didn't take long for Ongaro to record the hat-trick, as a fantastic solo effort from inside the MacEwan end in the 54th minute led to his third goal of the game, extending the Bears lead.
Sarkaria put the game well out of reach just four minutes later, scoring his tenth of the season from in tight after receiving a great pass from fifth-year midfielder Ivan Borka.
MacEwan star forward Everett Orgnero was finally able to get the visitors on the board in the 59th, beating Bears starter Connor James with an absolute rocket from distance, his eighth goal of the campaign.
That tally, however, was as close as the Griffins got, as James made a pair of saves down the stretch to seal the Bears 4-1 win.