Briercrest loses to NAIT, but Clinches Playoff Spot

By Sam and Jeremy Demoskoff

There was catchy, upbeat music playing during the pre-game skate between the Briercrest Clippers and the visiting NAIT Ooks. Maybe they should have tried John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance…

Friday night's contest got a little more heated than usual as the Clippers came out with their trademark grit and determination against the league-leading Ooks. 

The Clippers were aggressive on the forecheck from the drop of the puck, and they cashed in early. Colton Aikens, Briercrest's player of the game, ripped a snap shot low glove side to open the scoring. NAIT would take advantage of some end-of-shift fatigue to tie the game before pulling ahead on a shorthanded goal. If not for a flurry of saves by Dominik Tmej, the damage would have been worse.

Briercrest regrouped and started applying consistent pressure in the offensive zone and their efforts paid off when NAIT's goaltender turned over the puck. Halen Cordoni pounced on it and made the guests pay, tying the game at two. Achiel Schlepp had a great chance off the rush to retake the lead, but NAIT's Jordan Papirny made a great save. Briercrest closed out the opening frame with some strong defensive play- highlighted by Cameron Braun's physicality and skilled stickwork on the penalty kill.

The second period was when things started boiling over a little bit. Both teams finished most of their checks with exclamation marks, and there were more penalty minutes than shots. Unfortunately for the home team, three of NAIT's shots went in and the Clippers found themselves down 5-2 heading into the third.

Once again, Briercrest showed resilience as they hit the ice for the final period and tension continued to mount as it became clear that the game was still up for grabs. Zach Anderson made a good pass to Jacob Arsenault, who blasted a shot that was too much for Papirny to handle. Caleb Dolman knocked in the rebound and the Clippers were within two. 

The raucous play continued, and the Ooks would score on both the powerplay and penalty kill to finally put the game out of reach at 7-3.

NAIT's player of the game, Nicolas Leyer, shared his thoughts on the matchup with the Clippers: "They're a hard-working team; they come at you shift after shift. They're tough to play against, especially [at Barkman arena]... They give it their all every shift- you have to be ready to go."

The silver lining for the Clippers tonight was that, despite the loss, they still clinched their first playoff spot since 2009. For the players tonight, however, the focus is solely on the weekend series and Saturday's 1:30 pm rematch.

 "We had a lot of good moments, but there were a few mental lapses that cost us," explained Caleb Dolman. "If we clean those things up, we're right there tomorrow."