by ACAC Sports Writer Curtis J. Phillips

The puck drops on the 2017-2018 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) men's hockey postseason this Friday in two best-of-three quarter finals.

Resting with a bye, will be the NAIT Ooks and MacEwan University Griffins while unlacing the skates until next year are Briercrest College and Portage College Voyageurs.

That's leaves the Red Deer Kings playing the Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder in one quarter-final with SAIT Trojans taking on University of Alberta Augustana Vikings in the other series.

Quarter Final Series 1

Red Deer Kings vs. Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder

Regular season matchup
October 6, 2017, Red Deer 5 Concordia 2
October 7, 2017 Red Deer 3 Concordia 2  OT
January 5, 2018 Red Deer 5 Concordia 3
January 6, 2018 Red Deer 5 Concordia 4
Red Deer Kings won series 4-0 with 18 goals for 11 goals against.

Red Deer Kings

Record: 19 wins 7 losses 2 overtime losses 109 goals for 73 goals against
ACAC Championships: 8
Coach: Trevor Keeper

Three Stars
Tyler Berkholtz  16 goals 22 assists 38 points
Tanner Butler  12 goals 21 assists 33 points
Lynnden Pastachak 9 goals 21 assists 30 points

"For the playoffs every team ramps it up and  attempts to play their  best hockey," said Keeper. "Concordia has some speed and they put some pressure on you when you try to break out.

"This is our fifth year in the league and we have been building the team and now have a few older players. This year it has been a balanced effort and everyone had a role or responsibility.

"Tanner Butler is our team captain and he is either the top or top two defenceman in the league and has been good on both sides of the game for us."

Concordia Thunder's Adam Wheeldon

Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder

Record: 7 wins 18 losses 3 overtime losses 84 goals for 113 goals against
ACAC Championships: 1
Coach: Dan Glegloff   

Three Stars
Adam Wheeldon 14 goals 20 assists 34 points
Phil Dillon 14 goals 16 assists 30 points
Tyler Benko 11 goals 13 assists 24 points

 "The biggest thing is that we lost on the specialty teams battle," said Glegloff off the Thunder-Kings rivalry. "In the upcoming series our penalty killing will have to deal with their skilled guys and our own power play situations have to be better.

 "We are 100% healthy and it's nice as last year we were banged up going into the playoffs.

"They are a real fast team  and to beat them we will have to have all four of our lines going for all 60 minutes.

"We are a young team and our young guys have been good for us. Our backbone has been our goalie ie Tanner McCorriston who has been consistent all season."

Quarter Final Series 2

SAIT Trojans vs. University of Alberta Augustana Vikings

SAIT Trojans Joel Hamilton

Regular season matchup
October 20, 2017 Augustana 7 SAIT 3
October 21, 2017 Augustana 5 SAIT 0
January 19, 2018 Augustan 4 SAIT 1
January 20, 2018 SAIT 4 Augustana 3 OT

Augustana won the series three games to one outscoring SAIT 19 to 8.

SAIT Trojans

Record: 18 wins 6 losses 3 overtime losses 1 tie  107 goals for 80 goals against
ACAC Championships: 12
Coach: Dan Olsen  

Three Stars
Joel Hamilton 8 goals 20 assists 28 points
Pat Martens 18 goals 8 assists 26 points
Kevin Massy 7 goals 18 assists 25 points

"They (Augustana)  are a four line team that come at you hard and we will have to match their work ethic," said Olsen. "The second half (of ACAC regular season) we have been playing better hockey and we will have to be on the top of our game.

"Friday (February 23, 2018) we lost our team captain Dean Allison (in an 11-1 win against Portage College Voyageurs) with a broken jaw. It's a tough loss and now some other guys are going to have to step up. Our leadership group has been very strong and some of our fourth line guys have to become more involved and be ready to go."

University of Alberta Augustana Vikings

Vikings Curtis Skip by Josh Aldrich/Camrose Canadian

Record: 17 wins 8 losses 3 overtime losses 126 goals for 87 goals against
On a two game losing streak
ACAC Championships: 2
Coach: Blaine Gusdal

Three Stars
Travis Mayan  12 goals 12 assists 32 points
Mitch McMullin 16 goals 14 assists 30 points
Owen Sobchak 6 goals 23 assists 29 points

"SAIT finished ahead of us in the standings, so I do not know how we can be too confident," said Gusdal, in regards to the ACAC  regular season where the Vikings beat the Trojans three times against one defeat.  "The playoffs are a new season and they had a better February performance than we did.

"We have lot of depth and that is where we have had success when everyone comes to play and we are comfortable with our four lines. We have a lot of offense from guys and it will be a typical playoff battle, like it always is when we meet up with them.

"Curtis Skip (goalie) has been our backbone the last two seasons and if he plays his A level game, that gives us a lot of confidence for us to do well."

The winner of the two quarter-final series will move on to play the NAIT Ooks and MacEwan Griffins the following weekend, March 9-11, 2018.

 The lowest ranked team will face off against the Ooks while the Griffins will play against second lowest ranked, remaining team, in two semi-final best-of-three  series.

The highest ranked team that lost out in the semi-final series will be named bronze medal winner.

The winners of the two semi-finals will compete in the ACAC Men's Hockey Championship final best-of-three series, tentatively scheduled for March 16-18, 2018.