Weekend Recap - Week 20

After a week off for all Thunder teams, playoff season for Thunder Athletics is now in full swing with Thunder Badminton, Basketball, Curling, Hockey all playing. Here’s what happened last week:

Badminton

Thunder Badminton went down the road to The King’s University, taking part in this year's CCAA National Badminton Championships. Emma Tran represented CUE in the Women’s Singles category after her ACAC event win, while Jonathan Su and Raphael Motel joined together to challenge for the Men’s Doubles championship.

After the 3 day tournament, Su and Motel earned a bronze medal in Men’s Doubles, defeating Fanshawe’s Jan Dave Deocampo & Ty Nguyen 2-0 with set scores of 21-16 and 24-22. Emma Tran finished with the silver medal in Women’s Singles, falling in the gold medal match to King’s Colleges Ritu Shah 2-0 with set scores of 21-8 and 21-1.

With the badminton season now officially complete, the team heads into the offseason ready to train and build towards a successful 2025-26 season.

Basketball

Both Women’s and Men’s basketball participated in their ACAC Championship tournaments last weekend looking to bring home a title. The women’s team travelled to the NAIT gym to play their championship and the men made the trip to Briercrest College.

Game 1 for Women’s Basketball resulted in a 88-57 loss to the number one ranked SAIT Trojans. The eventual 2024-25 ACAC Champion Trojans brought the offence for the entire game, scoring 21 or more points in three of the four quarters. Forward Haley Clelend was a bright spot for the Thunder, leading the team in points with 13, while also adding 5 rebounds. Second year guard Laurel van der Giessen was also big off the bench, contributing 12 points. Game 2 unfortunately eliminated the Thunder after they fell 55-44 to the Keyano Huskies. It was a tight game throughout, with the Huskies holding on to a 32-23 lead at halftime. The Thunder kept things close, even outscoring the Huskies 18-15 in the final quarter, but the final push wasn’t enough to keep their playoff hopes alive. Chloe Sutherland and Georgia Bowman had identical 14 points each in the game while rookie Grethe Winchell led the Thunder in rebounds with 6.

Game 1 for Men’s Basketball was against the number one seeded Briercrest Clippers. The Thunder got out to a hot start, leading 26-19 after the first quarter. The Clippers pushed right back and took a 46-39 lead by half time. CUE continued to fight, outscoring Briercrest 21-17 in the third quarter, but the Clippers offence proved too much to handle in the fourth quarter scoring 30 points and winning the game 93-84. All-conference guards Yaadvir Dhaliwal and O’Ryan Wallace put up a combined 53 of the Thunder’s 84 points, showcasing their offensive talent that’s been on display all season. Game 2 against SAIT unfortunately ended with the same result, as the Trojans took down the Thunder 76-73. It was the first half of the game that allowed the Trojans to pull away, leading 43-37 at the half. The slim lead was all they needed as their defence limited Concordia to 36 points in the second half of the game. CUE senior forward Alex MacLean was tied for the team lead in points with 17, while Kyler Dutka added an impressive 4 blocks in the game.

Both teams have now officially completed the 2024-25 season. Men’s Basketball will have some roster turnover with four starting seniors graduating. Women’s Basketball will have a very similar team to this year, allowing the group to train together in the offseason to make another run at the playoffs next season. It will be an interesting offseason for both teams as they look to build off this year.

Curling

After a week-long national tournament, Thunder Women’s Curling brought home a bronze medal after defeating SAIT 7-5 in the medal match.

After going 5-2 over the four day round robin, the team moved into the semi-final facing Team PACWEST out of British Columbia. A tough 7-5 loss to PACWEST led the Thunder to the bronze medal game versus SAIT, where the Thunder regrouped in the final ends of the match to best the Trojans for bronze. This is the third year in a row Women’s Curling has won a medal at the CCAA College Curling Championships, claiming gold in 2024, and bronze in 2023.

Thunder Curling will head into the offseason with recruiting at the top of mind. With hopes of bringing back a men’s team for the 2025-26 season and half of the women’s team members graduating, Thunder Curling will have a much different look next year.

Hockey

Playoff season is underway for Thunder Hockey as CUE took on NAIT in a best of three Round 1 series. Game 1 of the series was a back and forth affair, with NAIT taking the game in overtime 5-4. The Ooks jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the first period and held a 4-2 lead going into the third. Two unanswered goals by Concordia’s Ryley Morgan and Zach Carlson in the third forced overtime where NAIT’s Ashton McNelly sealed the deal with a game winning goal. 

Game 2 was another tight game but Concordia earned a hard-fought 4-3 victory over NAIT, with Zachary Cunningham netting the game-winner midway through the third period. Strong performances from Isaac Leik (1 goal, 2 assists) and Zachery Carlson (1 goal, 1 assist) powered the Thunder to their win and forced a game 3. 

The final game of series was all Thunder as CUE dominated the game with four goals, defeating NAIT 4-1. Despite NAIT’s Ty Hodge cutting the lead early in the second, Concordia’s defense and goalie Griffin Bowerman (34 saves) shut the door the rest of the way. Strong offensive contributions from Dylan Handel (1 goal, 1 assist) and Ryley Morgan (1 goal, 1 assist) secured the 4-1 victory

Heading into Round 2, the Thunder will take on number one seeded Briercrest this coming weekend. By the end of Round 1, CUE’s Zach Carlson leads in playoff goals with 4, rookie Dylan Handel leads the ACAC in playoff points with 6, and goaltender Griffin Bowerman leads the ACAC Playoffs in save percentage (.922) and saves (106).