Clippers Drop Friday Evening Decision to the Vikings

by Sam and Jeremy Demoskoff

In the end, it was a lack of urgency that cost them the game. 

Sitting in fifth place after a solid road series a week ago in which they picked up three of a possible four points in Lac La Biche, the Briercrest Clippers planned to put some distance between themselves and the visiting Augustana Vikings, who trailed them in the standings and were holding down the final playoff spot. 

Instead, the hosts came out flat and allowed the guests to dominate the early stages of the game. In fact, you could have cooked a frozen pizza in the time it took for the Clippers to register their first shot at the 7:30 mark. 

Thankfully, Briercrest has hockey's version of Luke Skywalker deflecting shots between the pipes in Dominik Tmej, who extended his shutout streak from last weekend long enough for his team to start generating some offensive chances. 

Briercrest's powerplay, which has been stellar all year, came through for them as Ryan Miley and Colton Aikens combined to set up Reagen Poncelet, who scored his third of the season from the point to put Briercrest ahead.

Although they held the lead well into the second period, it would prove to be a false sense of security. Augustana struck with two quick goals late in the middle frame, ending Tmej's shutout streak at a very impressive 94:36. 

Briercrest regrouped during the second intermission and played their best hockey of the night to open the third. Trey Doell and Zach Anderson had some good chances, and Zach Thususka was dangerous on the forecheck. The home side tilted the ice and looked like they had decided to take control.

Augustana responded with an odd-man rush, but lone defender Campbell Enns made a great defensive play to defuse the threat before sending the puck up ice to Briercrest's player of the game, Halen Cordoni. Cordoni showed crosshair-like accuracy as he picked the short side past goaltender Daniel Moody to bring life to the crowd and tie the game at two. 

Briercrest got into some penalty trouble moments later, and the Vikings' player of the game Peyton Gorski scored his first career ACAC goal to put the guests up for good. An empty netter rounded out the final score at 4-2 for Augustana.

"Right off the bat, we were kind of on our heels," remarked Cordoni after the game. "We didn't really play our system." 

Despite the loss, the Clippers know that Augustana won't be taking them lightly for tomorrow's 2:30pm rematch. "We knew it was going to be a close game coming in," shared Moody. "They have a really good goaltender in Dominik Tmej over there- he's had a phenomenal season." 

The Clippers know that they have the horses to do better, and they sounded resolute in the aftermath. Said a determined Cordoni: "Tomorrow's a really big game."