With Briercrest hosting the annual Youth Quake Conference this weekend, the energy was evidently higher in the fans and the players. Briercrest went head-to-head against NAIT who is currently the top team in the league.

Briercrest brought their ‘A-game’ to put up their best fight against NAIT and started strong in the 1^st period. Tristan “Hermansauce” Hermanson started the offensive surge for Briercrest with a goal assisted by Jordan Harder and Bryton Beattie five minutes into the first period. Josh Anderson kept the momentum going for the team with a goal at 13:54, assisted by Thomas Freeman and Bryton Beattie which made the score 2-0 for Briercrest. With 34 seconds remaining in the period, Thomas Freeman scored with Alex Bechtold and Bryton Beattie’s third assist for the night.

The 2^nd period had an unfortunate beginning, with two goals scored by NAIT in the first minute. The first goal was scored by Wyatt Noskey and the second goal from Cameron Brezinski, making the score 3-2. NAIT tied it up with a goal from Kyle Campbell and assist from Devon McAndrews at 4:06. Less than a minute later, Briercrest came back during a power play with a goal by Micah Abbott from Josh Peters and Kailum Gervais. At 15:34, NAIT answered the call with a goal scored by Nelson Gadoury and assisted by Jake Mykitiuk, tying up the game once again 4-4. This concluded the second period.

In the final frame, it took NAIT 5 minutes before they snagged the lead. The goal was a one-timer by Nelson Gadoury from Jarid Hauptman and Jake Mykitiuk. NAIT took their lead and ran with it, netting anther one from Jarid Hauptman. His backhand goal widened the gap, making the score 6-4. Despite the maximal effort that was shown by Briercrest, they could not get any goals back before the end of the game, with the score 6-4 for NAIT.

NAIT’s Player of the Game went to Nelson Gadoury for his two goals, and Briercrest’s Player of the Game went to Christian Mueller as this is his final weekend after completing all 5 years of his college career playing for Briercrest hockey.

Come out again tomorrow, February 18^th at 2pm to support the men in a comeback against NAIT!

For up to date information on the Briercrest Hockey team and Briercrest Athletics, “like” us on Facebook or at gobriercrest.ca. To watch games online go to acactv.ca