EDMONTON - Rookie Bear Marc Lajoie scored three unanswered goals, leading Alberta to a come-from-behind 5-2 win over MacEwan on Saturday night. 

Alberta trailed 2-0 early in the first, before tying the game in the second, and scoring three in the third period in the win. 

Lajoie recorded the first hat trick by a Golden Bears defenceman in conference play since the 2004. Harlan Anderson was the last Golden Bears blueliner to register a hat trick in conference play, scoring three times in an 11-1 conference win vs Lethbridge on Feb. 21, 2004

With three points in two games against MacEwan, Lajoie now sits sixth in Canada West with 21 points through 18 games, second only to teammate Sean Tschigerl (22) among conference rookies.

With the result, Alberta maintained its grip on top spot in Canada West, improving to 14-4-0, while MacEwan dropped back to .500 at 8-8-2 – still a full 10 points ahead of Manitoba for the final playoff spot in the East Division, although the Bisons have two games in hand.

Just seconds after killing off a penalty midway through the first period, Vincent Scott seized some space on a speedy rush across the Bears' blueline and wired a snipe through a defenceman and past Alberta goaltender Tyler Palmer to open the scoring.

Less than a minute later, with MacEwan enjoying a 6-on-5 on a delayed penalty call, Hunter Donohoe fed Sean Comrie, who one-timed a point shot through traffic to put MacEwan up 2-0.

Brett Hyland cut the MacEwan lead in half before the first was out when he tipped Elias Carmichael's point blast past Griffins goaltender Brett Epp.

Then it was the Marc Lajoie show as he scored a natural hat trick over the course of 12 minutes and 42 seconds from the late second period into the third.

Sean Tschigerl capped the scoring with the nicest goal of the evening with four minutes left on the powerplay as he one-timed home a cross seam pass from Aidan de la Gorgendiere on a pretty passing play that also included Connor McClennon.

Epp finished with 35 saves for the Griffins, while Tyler Palmer stopped 23 for the Golden Bears.

MacEwan heads into a bye weekend and will return to action on Jan. 17-18 in a home-and-home series against Mount Royal University, who are tied for top spot in Canada West with Alberta.