By Erik Buddingh

Once again, the Briercrest hockey team gave the fans a lot to cheer about in an action-packed, back and forth Friday night game. The Clippers and their fans missed sniper Taylor Epp, who is out for the season after the doctors diagnosed the fractured patella on which he had been battling hard for the past four weeks.

Briercrest came out hot in the first period. Playing for a raucous, packed-out home crowd they dominated the pace of the game and scored the first two goals (#7 Jacob Baribeau: 4:25 – Assisted by #4 Ricky Seidel and #17 Manuel Schellenberg; and an unassisted goal by #4 Ricky Seidel: 16:07).

After a frenetic first, the momentum of the game shifted back and forth as Red Deer scored an unassisted power play goal (#17 Riley Simpson: 2:43) and then Briercrest responded (#24 Luke Robitaille: 8:06 – Assisted by #19 Stephen ‘Toe drag’ Langford) to stretch Briercrest’s advantage once again to two. While Briercrest continued to play a strong defensive second, which mitigated Red Deer’s artificially high shot total mostly coming off of soft point shots, the Kings scored three consecutive goals and took the lead by one goal entering the third period.

The third period was characterized by strong play from Briercrest and a lackluster effort by Red Deer, who nevertheless managed to extend their lead by one more goal ultimately resulting in a final score of 5-3 for the Kings.

Players of the game: Briercrest - #4 Ricky Seidel (1 Goal; 1 Assist); Red Deer - #17 Riley Simpson (1 Goal; 2 Assists).

Briercrest and Red Deer will faceoff again on Saturday at the Barkman Arena, puck-drop is at 2:00 pm.

You will be able to see a live stream at www.sportscanada.tv or find updates on the Briercrest Hockey Facebook page and onBriercrest Hockey’s Twitter.