Tmej-Day! Tmej-Day! Ooks Grounded by Clippers

The Briercrest Clippers rolled to a convincing 4-3 victory over the visiting NAIT Ooks Friday night as they tightened their grip on first place in the ACAC. "We were really excited to play, and it showed," remarked alternate captain Jeridyn Loewen afterward. "We've got a good team this year and we're going to do great things."

This was a statement game for the Clippers, facing off against their playoff nemesis of the past two postseasons, and they came out flying- outshooting the visitors and finding paydirt early off the stick of Cole Stevenson to put them ahead 1-0.

Fans were treated to a shootout through the rest of the period, with NAIT's player of the game Bryce Osepchuk setting up Ty Yoder and Ethan Leyer for a pair of goals. Daxton Budd and Colton Aikens each responded with their second goals of the season and the home team took a 3-2 lead into the first intermission.

Just over a minute into the middle frame, Cole Stevenson and Justin Keck created a turnover deep in NAIT's zone and set up Zach Thususka, who put the Clippers up 4-2. NAIT would respond a few minutes later, but defense and goaltending dominated the rest of the way. 

Dominik Tmej made two heart-stopping saves on one-timer opportunities, and NAIT's Ryley Osland was solid on several dangerous chances. The teams finished their checks and the intensity ramped up as neither side was willing to back down.

With less than a minute to play and NAIT's net empty, Stevenson won a critical faceoff for Briercrest and sent the puck the length of the ice, where Justin Keck outhustled an Ook defender to not only negate the icing call but draw a penalty. It was the cherry on top of a game that seemed theirs from start to finish.

"We all put a lot of work in over the summer," said Briercrest's player of the game, Colton Aikens. "We're glad to have a good start this year."

Catch the rematch tomorrow at 2:00, or watch the streamed broadcast on ACACTV.