It was no love-in Saturday afternoon as the Briercrest Clippers and Keyano Huskies faced off for the second game of their weekend series.

First period action saw the guests get off to a fast start, piling up the shots and getting an early one goal lead. Briercrest would immediately respond, however- the trio of Brett Lafond, Stephen Langford, and Taylor Epp creating a great rush and tying things up less than a half minute later. A little bit of history was made moments later, as fifth year forward Manny Schellenberg took a pass from Jacob Baribeau and made a great play to get the puck to Jordaan Braun, who scored to give the home side a 2-1 lead. With the assist, Schellenberg ties former player Mike Henschel for 11th on the all-time Clipper scoring list. Shots favoured Keyano 19-8 at the end of the first, and goaltender Connor Dobberthien was sharp in turning away several good chances to maintain the lead after 20 minutes.

Keyano carried much of the play in the first half of the second period, and their efforts were rewarded. By the eleven minute mark, the visitors had erased their deficit and taken a 5-2 lead. While Keyano's unsportsmanlike tactics behind the play and after the whistle may not have been ethical, it did create some frustration among the Clippers as some of the penalty calls proved sporadic. Keyano had an opportunity to put the game out of reach with a 5-on-3 powerplay in the second half of the period, but a great individual effort by Langford negated the threat as he stole the puck and drew a hooking call on a strong drive to the net. 

Things started to get very heated in the third, as both teams continued to finish their checks hard. Briercrest's penalty kill was tested early with three successive minor penalties, and the defenders got the job done. The Huskies struggled to keep a semblance of composure at times, taking five consecutive penalties and making the scoresheet read like a Tolkien novel- "slashing, spearing, spearing, slashing". A huge hit by a Dan Stollery would put an exclamation mark on what was a very rough final period, and the game ended 5-2 for the guests. Jordaan Braun was player of the game for Briercrest.

Briercrest heads to Red Deer next weekend for a very important series as they look to chase down the final playoff spot, currently held by the Kings. 

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