EDMONTON - A stellar first 40 minutes, which saw Alberta race out to a 4-0 lead, propelled the Golden Bears to an eventual 6-4 win over the MacEwan Griffins. 

Rookies Ty Nash and Marc Lajoie combined for three of the six Bears goals, adding an assist each. Fellow rookie Sean Tschigerl adding a helper as well in an impressive home debut for the Alberta recruiting class. 

Captain Josh Prokop and sophomores Aidan de la Gorgendiere and Connor McClennon also scored for Alberta, who open conference play with a pair of wins over their cross-town foes. Despite a shaky third period, Ethan Kruger turned aside 23 shots in the win for Alberta. 

After a late second period goal trimmed the lead to three, MacEwan found a new gear in the final frame, out-shooting, out-chancing, and out-scoring Alberta. After a Kadyn Chabot goal trimmed the lead to 5-4, Alberta needed a Lajoie empty netter to seal a suddenly tight win on home ice. 

Chabot scored twice for MacEwan in the third period to spart their comeback, to go along with goals from Marc Pasemko and Spencer McLean. Eric Ward made 20 saves in relief of Brett Epp, who was forced to leave midway through the first period due to injury. 

Saturday's contest was much closer than Friday night's match downtown, with the game following the trend of closer contests at Clare Drake Arena. Neither team dominated play, with Alberta finishing chances early, and MacEwan capitalizing late. 

Alberta (2-0-0) will now set their sights on a home series against Manitoba next weekend, while MacEwan (0-2-0) will visit the Regina Cougars.