Weekend Recap - Week 21

With most teams seasons now complete, Thunder Athletics turned its attention to Men’s Hockey as they were the only team playing over the weekend.

After a 2-1 series win against the NAIT Ooks, Thunder Hockey travelled to Briercrest to take on the number one seeded Clippers in Round 2. Another best of three series, this was a similar test to last year when CUE Hockey also played a top seeded Briercrest in Round 2 and won to advance to the final.

In Game 1 CUE started strong with two first-period goals from Dallon Wilton and Isaac Leik keeping the game tied 2-2 going into the second period. It was the Briercrest special teams that proved too much on this night as the Clippers scored four times on the powerplay, with three of those goals coming in the second period. After a four goal second period pushed the game to 6-2 Briercrest, the Thunder made an attempt to push back in the third with Leik adding his second goal early in the period and a late tally from Nikolai Morrison. Unfortunately two additional goals by the Clippers in the third pushed the game out of reach and Concordia fell 8-4 in a tough Game 1 loss.

Concordia bounced back in Game 2 with a 5-3 victory over Briercrest, fueled by a dominant second period where they scored four goals. After trailing 1-0 in the first, Isaac Leik sparked the offense, with Zachery Carlson and Noah Wilson adding power-play goals and Alex Bend potting a fourth goal to take control. Lukas Konashuk extended the lead in the third, and goalie Griffin Bowerman made 31 saves to secure the win. Despite a hat-trick from Briercrest’s Jake Dale, Concordia’s balanced scoring and special-teams success sealed the win and pushed the series to a deciding Game 3.

In the final game of the series, the Thunder fell behind early, ending the first period down 1-0. Dylan Handel’s second-period goal briefly tied the game, but Briercrest responded quickly with a power-play marker to reclaim a 2-1 lead by the end of the second. Despite a strong 42-save performance from Ashton Billesberger, Concordia couldn’t contain Briercrest’s offense in the third period. The Clippers added on two more goals in the third to win the game 4-1 and win the series 2-1.

With Concordia now eliminated from postseason contention, the Thunder have a lot to be proud of looking back on this year. Rookie sensation Dylan Handel will no doubt be this year's Rookie of the Year after winning this year's scoring title, while Isaac Leik finished the year top 10 in scoring. By the end of the playoffs, Leik, Handel, and Carlson were all tied for the ACAC playoff scoring lead with 10 points each between the two series’. Griffin Bowerman finished the year top 5 in save percentage and top 3 in win percentage in the regular season, while also leading the ACAC playoffs in saves with 157. The team will look to be in this position once again next season, with the goal of getting back to the final and winning it all.