EDMONTON – Between the roughhousing, the great saves, the gorgeous goals and the contentious plays on Saturday, a spark was lit in what figures to be a burning cross-town rivalry between the MacEwan Griffins and Alberta Golden Bears in Canada West men's hockey for a long time.

Alberta turned on the jets in the third period to break open a tie game and post a 7-4 victory, but both teams walked away with positives and the fans were given a treat – a gem of a hockey game that had it all.

Alberta improves to 15-3-0-1, solidifying their hold on first place in the conference, while MacEwan drops to 3-16-0-0. 

Kole Gable opened the scoring for MacEwan just 3:30 into the contest, converting a down low cross-seam feed from Curtis Roach.

Alberta netted the next two goals, however, to take their own lead as Nolan Volan beat Ty Taylor high blocker side and Josh Prokop scored off a broken play down low, sending it inside the right post.

But the Griffins left the first period tied 2-2 after Sean Comrie's power-play point shot went off some traffic in front and Thudium chopped it over Nick Schneider's shoulder.

For both teams, the PP was a story as MacEwan went 2-for-3 with the man advantage and Alberta clicked at a 3-for-7 rate. It was a constant parade to the penalty box throughout the evening with MacEwan finishing with 34 minutes in penalties to Alberta's 26.

Gary Haden put the Golden Bears up 3-2 with a powerplay marker at 4:59 of the second before the visitors thought they scored again, but it was waved off due to the whistle going before the puck went in.

Alberta did take a 4-2 for real at 11:25, though, when Josh Paterson picked Davies' pocket and chiseled the puck over Taylor's shoulder.

But goals from Zach Webb and Reagan – both off goalmouth scrambles – drew the Griffins even at 4-4 after 40 minutes.

Taylor, meanwhile, was doing his part to give MacEwan a chance, foiling Matt Fonteyne's deke attempt on an early third-period breakaway.

Finally, though, the Bears' breakthrough tally was breathtaking. Luc Smith played Gretzky, sending a gorgeous no-look back cross-crease back pass on the tape for Noah Philp to bury. A game-winner with 8:01 left.

Eric Florchuk and Grayson Pawlenchuk tallied two more within 25 seconds of each other late in the third to put the game out of reach.

Taylor finished with 47 saves for the Griffins, while Taz Burman, who came in for Schneider midway through the second period nets the win with eight saves.

The Griffins will close out the season with a Feb. 19 visit to the Clare Drake Arena to face the Bears at 7 p.m. (Canada West TV presented by Co-op).