It wasn’t all that long ago that the idea of the Briercrest College Clippers holding first place in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference men’s hockey standings was little more than a fantasy.
But every once in a while dreams come true, and the Clippers find themselves in the midst of a dream season.
Briercest rolled to 4-0 and 8-5 wins over the Portage Voyageurs at the Barkman Arena over the weekend, improving to 11-3-2-0 on the campaign and leapfrogging the NAIT Ooks for top spot in the ACAC.
It’s the first time the Clippers have held down first place in men’s hockey at this point in the season in team history, with Briercrest now having won seven of their last eight games and three straight.
The weekend started with the shutout on Friday night, as Dominik Tmej continued his stellar campaign by stopping all 20 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season. Through nine appearances, Tmej leads the ACAC with a 1.89 goals against average and .938 save percentage.
Colton Aikens, Campbell Ens, Curtis Wiebe and Cole Stevenson scored for the Clippers, who led 1-0 after the first and 3-0 through two. Aikens now has five goals and 21 points in 14 games to sit tied for the ACAC scoring lead.
Jacon Arsenault had a stellar game in the rematch with a goal and five points, while Reagan Poncelet had two goals and four points to go along with three assists from Aikens. Brandon Kelly scored twice, while Jacob Dale, Josh Lazowski, Theo Citrullo and Caleb Grandfield all had single markers. Ens and Ryan Miley had two assists each.
Alex Worthington had 32 saves to earn the win.
The Clippers have a big weekend ahead of them when they take on NAIT in a pair of contests, with games on Friday and Saturday in Edmonton.
The defending ACAC champion men’s volleyball team split their weekend set, falling 20-25, 25-18, 25-20, 21-25, 15-13 to the NAIT Ooks on Thursday before rebounding with a 25-23, 23-25, 20-25, 25-12, 15-11 win over Northwest Polytechnic in Grande Prairie.
The Clippers are now 9-2 and sit four points back of Red Deer for top spot in the South Division.
Karym Coleman led Briercrest with 20 kills in their victory, while Jackson Anderson had 17 and Adam Rivet 10. Jeremy Martens had 40 assists, Brady Wachtel picked up 11 digs.
Coleman had 17 kills and Anderson 14 against NAIT.The Clippers host the Lethbridge Kodiaks for two games this weekend, playing at Margaret P. Reimer gym at 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday
It was a tough weekend for men’s basketball, as facing first-place St. Mary’s they’d drop 103-89 and 113-89 decisions.
Jude Shepherd-Hills led the Clippers on Friday with 23 points and 16 rebounds, while Riley Seaborn and Francis Dogani scored 19 each. Moose Jaw’s Kaedyn Banilevic had three points off the bench.
Shepherd-Hills was again the scoring leader in the rematch with 14 points, with Dogani scoring 13, Seaborn 11 and Asher Elstad 10. Banilevic added five.
The Clippers are now 6-5 to sit tied for fourth in the South Division. They’re back in action this weekend when they travel to Lethbridge.
The Briercrest women’s basketball team didn’t have a lot of luck against St. Mary’s either, falling 66-55 on Friday and 75-65 on Saturday.
Brooklyn Martens led the Clippers in the opener, scoring 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Amber Fichtner had 12 points and 11 rebound to go along with 11 points from Dori Sunderland.
Fichtner topped Briercrest with 15 points Saturday, Hope Jordans picked up 12.
The Clippers fall to 6-5 and are tied for fifth in the South Division. They also travel to Lethbridge for a pair of games this weekend.
It was a bit of the good and a bit of the bad for Clippers womens volleyball, with a 25-22, 25-22, 25-17 loss to NAIT Friday and 25-18, 25-21, 22-25, 25-22 win over Northwest Polytechnic.
Julia Beer had nine kills and Faith Buhler eight in the loss, with Moose Jaw’s Summer Okerstrom adding a kill and two service aces. Abigail Ulrich had 15 assists.
In Grande Prairie, Buhler had 12 kills and Beer 11 to go along with 31 assists from Ulrich, Okerstrom had two kills and an assist.
The Clippers are now 7-4 and are tied for second in the ACAC South. They host Lethbridge for two games this weekend, playing at 5 p.m. Friday and 12 p.m. Saturday at the Margaret P. Reimer gym in Caronport.
