Trojans rally around Swier, clinch home ice advantage

CALGARY, ALTA., (Feb. 29, 2020) - The post-game celebration may have looked a little more excessive than usual, but there was good reason for it.

SAIT Trojans men's hockey goalie Aaron Swier turned aside 30 shots to help his team beat the Red Deer College Kings 4-3 Saturday night in their Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) game played at SAIT Arena. The 25-year-old, who last played competitively in 2013, not only picked up his first ACAC win, but also helped his team secure home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

"The team really went to bat for me today, I couldn't have done it without them," said Swier (1st year, Morningside, Alta., Electrical Engineering Technology), who last suited up for the Ponoka Stampeders of the Heritage Junior Hockey League in 2013. "But, this has been my focus for a while and what I have been looking forward to."

Swier's milestone first win comes on the last day of the regular season, as SAIT finishes with a 13-10-2-3 record. Red Deer fell to 20-6-2 with the loss.

"It was awesome. He gave us a chance to win," said Trojans head coach Tyler Drader. "Despite it being some time that he has faced competition, he was solid in net. His rebound control was good and the guys rallied around his effort."

Twenty-four hours earlier, Swier's ACAC debut ended in a 6-5 double overtime loss to the Kings. Drader said the team felt for their goalie after the heartbreaking loss, and really wanted to make it up to him.

"They were disappointed they didn't get him the win on Friday. We were up 5-4 with five minutes left and we couldn't get the job done," Drader explained. "You could hear the guys on the bench saying, 'Let's do this for Swiersy'. They were working hard tonight to get him the 'W'."

Things were rough early on for the netminder, however, as he allowed three goals on 14 shots in the opening period.

From then on, he shut the door on the Kings - stopping the remaining 19 shots sent his way.

SAIT received first period goals from Jackson McKinstry (3rd year, Calgary, Bachelor of Business Administration) and Kevin Massy (4th year, Victoria, BC, Bachelor of Business Administration).

After that, Rock Ruschkowski (2nd year, Calgary, Respiratory Therapy) tied it midway through the second period. 

The score stayed tied until the 3:30 mark of the final period when Trojans rookie defenceman Mark Drohan (1st year, Calgary, Academic Upgrading) scored his 10th of the campaign.

For the remaining 210 seconds, SAIT locked things down to ensure Swier got the win they felt he deserved the night before.

"It was a relief in a way, but fun as well," he said when asked of his mood when the final buzzer went. "The guys came over the boards and it was just a lot of screams. It was a blast."

SAIT will now embark on a playoff run. The two points earned Saturday kept them in fourth place in the standings, and pits them against the No. 5 seeded University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings, who finished just two points behind SAIT.

Last year, it was the Vikings who had home ice advantage in their first-round series, but SAIT won Games 2 and 3 to move on to the semifinal, where they would fall to the NAIT Ooks in two games.

"It's always nice to be able to play at home during the playoffs, but we just have to handle our business," said Drader. "Augustana is a good team, but yeah, tonight was a good win and we'll take home ice whenever we can get it."

No details as to the schedule of SAIT's first-round series have been released yet.