By Levi Fraser

September 27, 2013

The Briercrest College Clippers hockey team came into the game strong and energized. You could really tell that they want to put all they have into this season. This energy is something most Briercresters have never seen before and the crowd’s energy really echoed this for the entire game. Portage College Voyageur #19 Cory Giroux opened up the scoring at just 4:11 into the first period. Although starting goalie Jameson Shortreed #35 let one goal in early, he stepped up his game and became a wall between the pipes. With just 3:27 left in the 1^st period, Josh Anderson #11, got Briercrest’s 1^st goal of this season on an incredible power play. Josh clearly has the same sports genes that his sister Erin Anderson of the Briercrest volleyball team has. The biggest story of this game was the crowd support. The Barkman Arena may have never been so loud and so packed as it was tonight!

It may not have been a very strong second period for Briercrest but it ended with a thunderous goal by #17 Manny Schellenberg. With just 12.5 seconds left in the second, the Briercrest cycle on the power play worked magic with Schellenberg’s hard back hand shot leaving them only three goals down. A period that was packed with penalties left Briercrest in the deficit. The first goal of the second went to #24 Taylor Wells of the Voyageurs 2:48  into the period. This goal was shortly followed by another for Voyageur’s Giroux with 15:24 left. Briercrest’s energy picked up as they went on to the 5-on-3 powerplay mid-way through the second period. The powerplay was short-lived as Briercrest #19 Stephen Langford went to the box for roughing. Portage’s Giroux scored his third on the powerplay to send Portage up to a three goal lead. With 8:16 left in the second Briercrest’s Brennan Gasmo #16 went to the box for roughing. Briercrest coach Lloyd Friesen took the opportunity to take a time-out and switch up the goaltending for Briercrest. Even with the switch-up, a bad give away on the penalty kill gave Giroux of the Voyagers his fourth goal and the Voyagers a four goal lead. Even though the Clippers ended the period down by three goals, their energy levels remained high and you could tell it was going to be a great third period. 

This game could be categorized as packed full of energy and the third period was no different. Briercrest came out strong and gave everything they had. The crowd was impeccable as they cheered non-stop till the end. 4:15 into the third Portage #9 Dustin Popowich scored making it even more difficult for Briercrest to get back. 13:46 into the third Briercrest’s Anderson received a tripping call sending Briercrest to the penalty kill. Langford for Briercrest took the opportunity on the PK to show off some sick dangles as he passed the defenseman on a one-on-one and scored short-handed for the Clippers. With just under one minute left Briercerst went on to a 5-on-3 power play and decided to pull their goalie making it 6-on-3. Briercrest gave it their best but, #25 Gii Kakegabon for the Voyageurs iced the puck and scored on the long shot. Briercrest came away with a hard loss, 7-3.

Player of the game for Briercrest was #11 Josh Anderson with one goal and for Portage was #19 Cory Giroux with four goals.

Portage’s Kirby Halcrow turned away 30 of 33 shots for the win while Briercrest’s Jameson Shortreed saved 13 of 17 shots to record the loss and Christian Mueller made 21 saves on 23 shots. The next game will be tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 pm at Barkman Arena. If you cannot make it to the game you will be able to see a live stream at www.sportscanada.tv or find updates on the Briercrest Hockey Facebook page.