The hockey game Saturday afternoon at the Barkman Arena featuring the SAIT Trojans against the Briercrest Clippers was far from a finesse, skill game. The Trojans racked up an astonishing two hours- two hours!- and seven minutes of penalties enroute to victory. Briercrest in turn racked up 117 penalties minutes in response.

The parade to the penalty box and dressing room began halfway through the first period with both teams receiving pairs of 10-minute misconducts, and continued through the second period with only 12 skaters still in the game for each team. 

On to the positive: Josh Dufresne and Manny Schellenberg showed great composure and leadership in the face of much instigation. Erik Robitaille was huge on the penalty kill. Aaron Armstrong showed typical wizardry in scoring Briercrest's first goal and, along with Josh Peters, set up Josh Anderson for a second marker. 

Connor Dobberthein made some highlight-reel saves, stimying several Trojans on excellent chances. Mark MacKinnon, Matt Landers, BJ Pirus, and Dan Stollery were deft on defense, especially when the benches were shortened due to misconducts on both sides. 

Dirk de Waal and Jordaan Braun valiantly stood up for teammates on several occasions, while Kierce Kingra and Ben Feere played their best games as Clippers. Brett Lafond was tough as usual, and Brennan Gasmo was a force on the forecheck. Matt Melo and Jacob Baribeau were persistent offensive threats, especially late when getting double-shifted. 

The game ended 6-2 for the guests, with Aaron Armstrong and Mitch Board capturing player of the game awards.

A famous college football coach once said, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." If he's right, the Trojans are the class of the league. If he's wrong, it will be clear to anyone who was in attendance today that Briercrest's character transcends wins and losses.

Briercrest travels to Edmonton next weekend, Jan. 30-31, to face ACAC third ranked Grant MacEwan University.

For up to date information on the Briercrest Hockey team, “like” the Briercrest Hockey facebook page.