By Kyle Legouffe

This afternoon’s game marked the final contest of 2012 and both Briercrest and SAIT are looking to end on a positive note. Briercrest looked to avenge their loss but fell short by the score of 5-1.

Briercrest’s head coach Dalton Stoltz is also looking to grab his first career ACAC win as he is in his first season as a bench boss in the ACAC. The Briercrest men’s hockey team will have the chance on January 11^th and 12^th in Edmonton to gain their first win of the season when they play NAIT. 

The opening 20 had hits and goals as both sides showed heart. SAIT was the only team to put goals on the board, as they were able to pot three behind Jesse Chenard. There were three penalties given to each team and each team was able to stay perfect on the penalty kill. Two of the penalties that were called in the frame were a result of a scrum after the whistle as Pierre Landry of Briercrest and Brad Drobot of SAIT were shown the gate. Briercrest was out shot in the period by the count of 18-9 and of those nine shots few were quality-scoring opportunities.

The middle period was a better one for Briercrest as they were able to generate scoring opportunities. The shots in the frame were 21-5 in favor of SAIT and the Trojans were able to net one goal on those shots. Briercrest was able to get on the board and break the shutout, as Luke Robitaille was able to get his stick on the point shot from brother Erik Robitaille. There were only three penalties in the period as Briercrest took two, one for interference and one for roughing; meanwhile SAIT had an unsportsmanlike minor. The Trojans spent a lot of time in the offensive zone but plenty of their shots missed the net.

The final stanza was one that Briercrest showed heart and intensity. The Trojans were the only team to score in the period as they directed 14 shots towards Jesse Chenard. Briercrest was storming around SAIT’s crease but could not get the red light to come on. They had 11 shots in the period and the final shot count was SAIT 54 and Briercrest 25. The Trojans had three penalties called on them with Colton Semenok getting a misconduct near the midway point of the frame. Briercrest took one penalty as Ryan Petersen was handed a two minute minor for roughing. Chenard stood on his head as he faced a lot of rubber in the crease. The final was 5-1 for SAIT.  

The players of the game were awarded to Brent Struble of SAIT as he had one goal and one assist and Luke Robitaille of Briercrest as he had the only goal for Briercrest.

Briercrest will have some time off as Christmas is approaching. The men will be in action next January 11^th and 12^th as they go to Edmonton to play the NAIT Ooks. Their next home date is January 18^th and 19^th as they host the Keyano Huskies.