With eighteen seconds left in the game MacEwan takes a timeout down by one, emotion runs deep as Briercrest anticipates their first win at home, Barkman Arena goes crazy, can our Clippers put it away?

An amazing start for Briercrest Hockey saw the Clippers up two to nothing going into the 2^nd period with only six shots on net. Grant MacEwan pushed hard at the start of the 1^st period putting eleven shots on Briercrest starting goaltender #1 Connor Dobberthien, before Briercrest even recorded a shot. While Briercrest was clearly playing their defensive game well, it didn’t take long for them to turn up the heat. Just over nine minutes into the game a quick pass by #10 Dirk de Waal gave #19 Stephen Langford the perfect opportunity to put one past the MacEwan goalie. Five minutes later after a scramble off the faceoff, de Waal nagged the puck and got it to an open #9 Taylor Epp who put it top shelf glove side putting Briercrest up by two going into the 2^nd period.

Briercrest looked hot going into the 2^nd period. Less than two minutes in Briercrest’s #11 Josh Anderson was able to shovel one past MacEwan goaltender after a great feed from #12 Caleb Willems and #5 Justin Steenhof. Soon after Briercrest went to the five-on-three after two bad penalties for MacEwan left them shorthanded. Unfortunately Briercrest was unable to put one away with the two man advantage. It wasn’t long before MacEwan began to put the pressure back on and nine minutes into the period MacEwan was able to put their first goal past Dobberthien. As the 2^nd period wore on Briercrest got into some penalty trouble of their own, leaving them tired and vulnerable. With just 2 minutes left in the period MacEwan was able to put another past Briercrest to put them down by only one. In the last two minutes of the period another unlucky penalty put MacEwan on the power play where they were able to tie it up at 18:40 of the 2^nd period. Briercrest went into the third period hungry for the win and ready to give what it takes to get that win.

After an unfortunate turn of events in the 2^nd period that left Briercrest tied, the Clippers took the ice in the 3^rd looking to finally get a win at home. Just over seven minutes into the period an unreal feed from Anderson and #26 Erik Robitaille to #7 Jacob Baribeau set him up perfectly to  push the puck past the MacEwan net minder placing Briercrest up by one. The road to victory is not an easy battle and after getting two penalties in the second half of the 3^rd it looked like MacEwan was going to be able to tie it up. A late timeout call for MacEwan with 18 seconds left couldn’t help MacEwan out as Briercrest dominated every last second of the 3^rd period and  came away with a huge win on home ice.

Final score was 4-3 for Briercrest. Shots on net Briercrest 27 and MacEwan 48.

Players of the game: Briercrest’s #1 Connor Dobberthien with 45 saves, MacEwan’s #30 Chris Wray with 23 saves.

Briercrest will face Grant MacEwan again tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 pm in the Barkman Arena. You will be able to see a live stream at www.sportscanada.tv or find updates on the Briercrest Hockey Facebook page.