Sweep! Briercrest Clippers Brush Aside the Red Deer Kings to Advance in the Playoffs

By Sam and Jeremy Demoskoff

Twenty-five seasons in the making, the Briercrest Clippers' first playoff series win felt worth the wait as they rolled to a convincing sweep of the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings Saturday evening. 

Since joining the ACAC in 1997 the Clippers have been known for their character and hard work on and off the ice, but playoff wins have been sparse for a program not enjoying quite the same funding as some of their league rivals. But on this weekend, a clear statement was made about their ability to find success against top teams.

Facing the third-seeded Kings, the Clippers dominated the weekend best of three series, posting a 5-1 victory Friday night followed by a 5-3 win Saturday to close things out. They never trailed in either game and simply outworked a very skilled Kings squad in the deciding match as every member of the team made important contributions: timely saves by Dominik Tmej… a crucial shot-block by Reagan Poncelet… a gritty goal by player of the game Caleb Grandfield… Cameron Braun sacrificing the body to draw a penalty… Zach Thususka and Jacob Arsenault showing great composure and discipline… The whole team played to their potential and it was a joy to watch.

A boisterous pro-Briercrest crowd made the trip to Red Deer, and a few extra gray hairs may have sprouted for them in the third period of Saturday's contest when Red Deer made things interesting by coming back to tie the game at 3-3. A lengthy powerplay for the Kings saw them generate some chances to finally take the lead, but some tenacious work by Cole Stevenson put the puck on the stick of Zach Anderson, who skated in one-on-one against Red Deer's top defenceman and player of the game, Tyler Podgorenko. Using him as a screen, Anderson rifled the puck high blocker side past the Kings goaltender and that would prove to be the series winner. Briercrest added an empty-net goal and the celebration was on.

"We're happy," smiled Briercrest's Dominik Tmej after the game. "We're going to enjoy this for a bit, but come Monday we're going to get back to work."

Briercrest will head to Edmonton this weekend to face the NAIT Ooks in the semi-finals. Catch their games on ACAC's streaming service.