Briercrest Drops Narrow Decision to Augustana in Home Opener

By Sam and Jeremy Demoskoff

It was a special teams slugfest Friday evening as the Briercrest Clippers hosted the Augustana Vikings in their home opener. Barkman arena was abuzz after an impressive video intro for the 2022/23 edition of the Clippers and there was a strong contingent of fans for both teams.

It was the Viking's supporters who were able to celebrate first, as the visitors scored off the rush midway through the first period. Briercrest responded with some good work on the forecheck by Colton Aikens and Curtis Wiebe, and Augustana took successive penalties as they tried to contain the Clippers. The top unit went to work on the powerplay as Ryan Miley feathered a pass to Jacob Arsenault, who ripped a shot bar down to tie things up at one. The goal had hardly been announced on the PA system before Aikens sniped another marker in the bottom left corner to give the home side a 2-1 lead.

For the remainder of the period, the Clippers imposed their will as big hits from Brandon Kelly and Theo Citrullo as well as solid work by goaltender Dominik Tmej kept the home team in the driver's seat.

Second-period action repeatedly put Briercrest's penalty kill to the test- but gutsy shot blocks and tight checking by Caleb Grandfield and Cole Stevenson kept the guests at bay. The Clippers had a chance to create some separation on the scoresheet with a lengthy 5-on-3-man advantage, but Augustana was able to kill off the penalties. The Clippers would soon regret the missed opportunity as a good individual effort by Conrad Phillips ended up in the back of Briercrest's net, tying the game up at 2. 

Halen Cordoni gave the crowd a charge a few moments later when he steamrolled a Viking and the players headed into the final frame with the game up for grabs.

The teams traded powerplay chances in the third, highlighted by another two-man advantage for Briercrest. Alex Pellerin and Keagon Little both hit posts, but Augustana's player of the game, Kyle Ford, scored shorthanded to pull his team ahead 3-2. The Clippers attacked in waves in an effort to find the equalizer, but the visitors were able to hang on for the win.

There was much to be satisfied within Briercrest's play, even as the result was not what the home team was looking for. "I loved our effort, I loved our compete level," commented head coach Sam Klassen, "Overall I was happy with our play today."

Briercrest's player of the game, Ryan Miley, reflected on the result: "The first 40 minutes we were really good- we were on them and playing our game... [it's a] quick reset from here and two points are on the line for tomorrow."

Catch tomorrow's rematch at 2:00 pm at the Barkman arena or on ACAC's streaming service.