EDMONTON – Whatever was said during the first intermission on Friday night turned the visiting Alberta Golden Bears from friendly Yogi into a full-on 700-pound Grizzly.

They kicked up the speed, won most battles and turned a close game into a 4-1 win over the MacEwan Griffins in Canada West men's hockey action.

With the result, the Golden Bears improved to 12-4-1 and the Griffins fell to 6-9-0 after their fourth-straight loss.

Alberta opened the scoring just 27 seconds into the contest when Jakin Smallwood's cross-crease one-timer on a pass from Justin Hall trickled through Ashton Abel and over the line.

The early strike was not indicative of the opening frame, though, as MacEwan had more chances, including a breakaway by Ethan Strang midway through that Golden Bears goaltender Matt Berlin stopped. But on the ensuing puck battle in the corner off the rebound, Merritt Oszytko dug it out and sent it to Elijah Brown in the slot for a one-timer and the first goal of his Canada West career.

Jordan Taupert missed a golden chance to put MacEwan ahead with 2:41 left in the first period as he took advantage of a lobbed stretch pass that wasn't handled by the Bears' D and also fooled Berlin, finding himself in alone staring at empty net, but the tap-in attempt missed.

Nevertheless, the Griffins were in good shape still until the puck dropped on the second period. Alberta hemmed them in their own end for the first four minutes, setting the tone for what would become their game.

Dylan Plouffe scored the eventual game-winner 3:33 into the frame when Volcan's shot went off Abel's pad and he hit the open net from a tough angle on the rebound.
Josh Prokop gave the Bears an insurance marker before the period was out as Volcan stole the puck behind the net, won a battle up the wall and sent a one-timer to him in the slot that he trickled through Abel's legs.

Wyatt McLeod scored with 3:03 left on another one-timer, this time from the right circle off Prokop's pass from behind the net.

Abel made 46 saves for MacEwan, while Berlin stopped 22 for Alberta.

The teams will meet again on Saturday (7 p.m., Clare Drake Arena, Canada West TV).