By Kyle Legouffe

This was the first home game of second semester for Briercrest and they entertained the Keyano Huskies in front of a packed Barkman Arena. The Huskies beat Briercrest both times when they traveled up to Fort McMurray first semester. The final score of the game was 2-1 OT in favour of Briercrest.

Briercrest was able to grab their first win of the season tonight and will get a chance to improve on their first win tomorrow afternoon as they play the backend of the double header against the Huskies. Head coach Dalton Stoltz gets his first ACAC win under his belt as he is in his first year behind the bench for Briercrest.

The opening 20 saw Briercrest come out and take the body early. Briercrest had three power plays and generated multiple scoring opportunities but could not tickle the twine. Keyano had a power play where Briercrest’s Caleb Willems broke in all alone and just missed sliding the puck past the line. There was plenty of physical play as both teams were taking the body. The shots in the period favoured Keyano by the count of 8-7. There was no scoring in the frame as a result of the shots on net.

The middle period showed much of the same as both teams came out flying and taking the body. There were eight penalties called in the frame as both teams took four trips to the box. Briercrest was able to take a 1-0 lead during the stanza, as Manuel Schellenberg was able to make a beautiful tip on a point shot from Pierre Landry. Jesse Chenard was stellar stopping all 31 shots he faced in the period.

The final frame was just as exciting as the first two as both teams were showing that they were not going down without a fight. The game was tight all the way through and the shutout was broken as Keyano was able to tie the game up late in the period. That did not take the wind out of the sails of Briercrest as they continued to show heart. The shot count in the period favoured Keyano 22-11.

The crowd at Barkman arena was gifted with extra hockey as the game went into overtime. Both teams traded chances in the period and both goalies made great saves to keep the game tied. The crowd was behind the home team, as they never stopped cheering and creating noise. That seemed to spark Briercrest as Schellenberg drove wide on the Husky defender and threw the puck out in front where Kyle Golz was able to redirect the puck past the Keyano goalie, which made Barkman Arena erupt and the bench pour out and mob Golz.

The player of the game award was handed out to the two goalies, Matthew Smid of Keyano and Jesse Chenard of Briercrest who made 32 and 44 saves respectively.

These two teams will be back at it tomorrow afternoon with puck drop at 2pm at Barkman Arena. Come on out and support the guys or tune into Facebook for intermission updates or check out www.sportscanada.tv for live streaming action.