By Kyle Legouffe

The Portage Voyageurs came to Caronport, Saskatchewan to take on the Briercrest men’s hockey team at Barkman Arena. This was game two between the two clubs as they both fought hard and showed intensity. Portage came out on top with a 10-3 victory.

Coach Dalton Stoltz is in his first year as the bench boss for Briercrest and is looking for his first ACAC victory. He will get a shot to gain his first win as coach next weekend as his squad travels to Concordia University College to play the Thunder.

The first period saw Briercrest come out and show intensity. Christian Mueller got his first ACAC regular season start and let in two goals that came off lucky bounces in front of the net. He was taken out and Jesse Chenard came in to finish the period.  Portage added another to lead 3-0. The Voyageurs took one minor penalty in the frame, whereas Briercrest had eight minutes worth of penalties.

The middle stanza was a better period for Briercrest as they came out flying and taking the body. Portage scored seven seconds into the period to go up 4-0, but Briercrest was able to ripple the mesh twice as a pair of players picked up their first career ACAC goal. First, was Brennan Gasmo as he was able to bang in a loose puck on the Voyageur doorstep and the second was Pierre Landry, who took a shot from the point and had it bounce around in front of the net before making its way over the goal line. There were two other players from Briercrest that found the score sheet for the first time this season, as Caleb Washington and Josh McGuire assisted on Gasmo’s tally. Portage was the only team to take minor penalties in the frame as they had eight minutes in penalties.

The final 20 saw the game get rough as both teams were getting involved in extracurricular activity. Luke Robitaille was one guy who was involved as he was sticking up for his goaltender Jesses Chenard. Briercrest was able to add one more goal from Manuel Schellenberg, but Portage added six goals in the frame to end up taking the game 10-3.

The awards for player of the game went to Brennan Gasmo for Briercrest who scored his first ACAC goal and Jory Geddes for Portage who had three goals and two assists on the night.

Briercrest men’s hockey will be on the road next weekend traveling to Edmonton to play the Concordia University College Thunder.