Weekend Recap - Week 12

Week 12 of the ACAC season saw Thunder Basketball, Curling, Hockey, and Volleyball all in action this weekend. Here’s what happened over the week for the Thunder.

Basketball

Thunder Basketball was at home this past weekend, hosting the Medicine Hat Rattlers on Friday and the Briercrest Clippers on Saturday.

For Women’s Basketball, Friday vs. Medicine Hat saw the Thunder get their first home win of the season. Dominating play throughout, the Thunder held a 49-27 lead by the end of the second quarter and never looked back. Some last minute pressure from the Rattlers closed the gap, but the Thunder still took the game 73-65. Jaycee May was huge for the Thunder, putting up 14 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds and 3 steals. Rookie forward Grethe Winchell played a crucial role off the bench contributing 13 points and 6 rebounds in the game. Saturday vs. Briercrest was a different story for women’s basketball as they lost to the Clippers by a score of 74-23. The consistent pressure of the Clippers offence was too much to handle. Georgia Bowman was the main contributor for the Thunder, accumulating a team high 9 points and 6 rebounds in the game. 

On the men’s side, the Thunder got back into the win column on Friday, defeating the Medicine Hat 89-69. The defence came to play this game, allowing 15 or less points in three of the four quarters. Kyler Dutka was a force on both sides of the ball scoring 22 points, shooting an impressive 8 for 11, grabbing 6 rebounds, and accumulating 4 blocks to lead his team to the win. Saturday’s game vs. Breircerst saw Men’s Basketball win their second game in a row, as the Thunder beat the Clippers 87-79. It was an incredibly tight first half, with the score sitting tied 42-42. The Thunder pulled away in the third thanks to the defence limiting the Clippers to only 8 points in the quarter. Briercrest came roaring back in the fourth, outscoring Concordia 29-26, but the Thunder held on to win the game. This was Breircrest’s first loss of the season. Yaadvir Dhaliwal had an incredible game, leading the team in scoring with 25 points while also adding 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals. 

Both teams will have two more games in the fall semester. They’ll travel to Lethbridge for a game against the Kodiaks on Friday November 29th, followed by another road game on Saturday November 30th against the SAIT Trojans.  Men’s Basketball is currently sitting 3rd in the ACAC North Division with a 5-3 record. Women’s Basketball is in 5th with a record of 2-6.

Curling

Thunder Curling travelled to Camrose for their first ACAC tournament of the season with both our mixed team and women’s team playing all weekend. At the completion of the weekend, Women’s Curling finished with a 3-2 record, defeating NAIT 12-1, Augustana 11-4, and Lakeland 8-1 while falling to Red Deer 6-4 and SAIT 4-3. Mixed Curling finished the weekend with a 2-2 record, beating Red Deer 8-1 and Portage 11-2, while losing to SAIT 10-1 and Lakeland 8-6.

Concordia will host the second curling tournament of the season, taking place January 17th-19th at the Thistle Curling Club.

Hockey

Thunder Hockey had a two game series over the weekend against the NAIT Ooks.

In Friday’s road game both teams came out scoring with two goals each in the first period. Alex Bend scored the first goal of the night for Thunder with Zach Cunningham scoring the second. The second period saw Zach Carlson and Dylan Handel each score a goal for the Thunder, taking the 4-3 lead by the end of the period. NAIT tied the game up 4-4 early in the third, but the Concordia offence continued to bounce back with Dallon Wilton potting two goals in the period and Dylan Handel scoring his second of the game. An incredible game for the offence saw the Thunder come out on top with a 7-4 win.   

In Saturday’s home game it was NAIT's offence who lit the lamp, scoring 5 unanswered goals in the game before Concordia scored a goal of their own on the powerplay by Dallon Wilton. By the end of the third period, the Ooks got another goal to tally 6 total in the game, defeating the Thunder 6-1. 

Thunder Hockey now enters the winter break to recover and get ready to fight for their spot in the playoffs once again. Their next two game series will be against Portage College, with games on January 10th and 11th. Concordia currently is 6th in the ACAC Hockey standings with a record of 3-9.

Volleyball

Thunder Volleyball had two road games each this past weekend against the Medicine Hat Rattlers on Friday night followed by games on Saturday versus the Briercrest Clippers.

On Friday night, Women’s Volleyball lost in three sets with scores of 25-15 (MHC), 25-21 (MHC), and 25-23 (MHC). Rookie Setter Paige Luttrell continues to improve for the Thunder, contributing a new career high of 21 assists, as well as 4 kills. Fourth year Right Side Emma Thompson played her best game of the season, contributing with 9 kills and 7 digs, both season highs for her. Saturday against Briercrest was a loss in straight sets with scores of 25-16 (BC), 25-17 (BC), and 25-15 (BC). Fourth year Libero Justine May led the team in digs with 7, while Caitlyn Wylie and Emma Thompson led the team in kills with 6 each.

Men’s Volleyball fell to the Rattlers on Friday in four sets with scores of 25-19 (CUE), 25-23 (MHC), 25-15 (MHC), and 25-16 (MHC). First year setter Hasit Desai set a new career  high in assists with 27 in the game, while also contributing with 6 digs. He currently sits 13th in the ACAC in both assists per set with 5.22 and total assists with 120. Alexi Dufour also had a big game for the Thunder, collecting a team high 10 kills in the game. On Saturday, Men’s Volleyball fell to Briercrest in straight sets with scores of 25-17 (BC), 28-26 (BC), 25-23 (BC). Hasit Desai had a second 27 assist game, while Kurt Neihoff added 8 kills, 2 digs, and a service ace.

Thunder Volleyball will be back at home to finish off the fall semester's games, taking on the Lethbridge Kodiaks on Friday November 29th and the SAIT Trojans on Saturday November 30th.