Trojans fight back to earn draw with Clippers

CALGARY, ALTA., (Oct. 18, 2019) - Take Friday's game, but reverse it.

Less than 24 hours after the SAIT Trojans blew a 4-0 lead before winning 5-4 in overtime over the Briercrest College Clippers, it was the Trojans who had to claw their way back from a three-goal deficit in order to salvage a 4-4 tie in the team's Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) matinee rematch at SAIT Arena.

"Coming away with three points this weekend, it is what it is, but for me I want to focus on how we dug our heels in and came back to earn that point," said Trojans head coach Tyler Drader. "We were all over them, and had probably 20 Grade A scoring chances. . . It was just one of those games."

SAIT moves to 1-1-1-1 on the season, while the pesky Clippers see their record go to the same 1-1-1-1.

"We had three or four open nets that were missed, slap shots on wide open nets but it would hit their sticks, it just wasn't meant to be," Drader continued."

Things did not start well for the Trojans.

The Clippers scored twice on their first three shots of the game, forcing Trojans head coach Tyler Drader to pull starting goalie Cody Campbell (2nd year, Dewinton, Alta., Bachelor of Business Administration) in favour of Friday night's winning goalie Kyle Dumba (1st year, Calgary, Business Administration).

They added one more before the period was over to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. Counting for the Clippers in the period were Chad Davidson, Halen Cordoni and Reagan Poncelet.

"It's tough when you're hemming them in, all over them controlling the play and then we cough the puck up for a goal and they get another from a bad angle," Drader stated. "It's frustrating, but at the end of the day we need to remember that we didn't allow ourselves to get frustrated and start making excuses, and that's key."

SAIT responded in the second with a pair of goals to cut into the lead.

The first came off a face-off win by Colton McCarthy (4th year, Salmon Arm, BC, Geographic Information Systems) when he pushed the puck forward, tracked it down and fed Jared Power (1st year, Calgary, Academic Upgrading) for his second goal in as many games.

The second came off the stick of Zach McNeill (3rd year, Calgary, Business Administration) as he beat Clippers goalie Dan Dekoning top corner.

The Clippers added their own in the period when Josh Boelema scored on the power play to put the visitors up 4-2 after 40 minutes of play.

In the third, SAIT had chance after chance, but could not find a way to beat Clippers all-star goalie Dan Dekoning. Tyler Maltby (2nd year, Sherwood Park, Alta., Business Administration) then scored from in close with less than seven minutes left to give the fans hope.

Nearly five minutes later, McNeill scored his second of the game when he skated out from the half wall and went high again to tie the game.

"It was a big play for us, and showed the resiliency of this group," stated Drader. "It was a big time shot by him."

Five minutes of 4-on-4 overtime, and then five more minutes of 3-on-3 overtime where SAIT again had a myriad of chances solved nothing.

The Trojans will return to action next weekend when they take on the Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder in a home-and-home series - Friday night at home, Saturday night in Edmonton.