Briercrest Comes Up Short in Series Opener

by Sam and Jeremy Demoskoff

Arik Weersink's teammates are pretty thankful for him tonight. Playing their first game in seven weeks, the Red Deer Kings managed to escape with a 3-0 victory over the Briercrest Clippers due to his efforts between the pipes as he turned away an early onslaught that included 20 first period shots. 

"[Briercrest] came out pretty hot," remarked Kyle Salaway, who took player of the game honours for the Kings after contributing a goal and assist. "[Weersink] played unreal to help keep us in it early."

The Clippers created a number of scoring chances shortly after puck drop. Josh Wiens came close to putting the home team up early with a good shot off of a rebound shortly before Daine Milgate created another dangerous chance. Trey Doell flashed some great hand-eye coordination to keep the puck on side at the point prior to walking around a pair of Kings and forcing another pad save.

An uncharacteristic lull in intensity by Briercrest allowed the guests to build a three goal lead late in the second period, but there were still some flashes of brilliance displayed by the Clippers. Jacob Arsenault spun to avoid an aggressive forechecker and then made a beautiful pass to send Caleb Dolman and Curtis Wiebe in for a scoring opportunity. Campbell Enns and Ryan Miley were both sharp and created turnovers in the offensive zone, while Cameron Braun stood out with his hard skating and physical play. 

A late high sticking double-minor powerplay gave the Clippers a glimmer of hope to at least spoil the shutout, but Red Deer's Chance Longjohn helped out on the penalty kill to preserve the donut.

Briercrest's player of the game, Brandon Kelly, shared his thoughts on his team's performance: "We just didn't stick to how we usually play… overall, we didn't do what we came out to do."

Be sure to catch Saturday afternoon's rematch at 2:30. "That's the nice thing about hockey," adds Kelly, "you get to go out and try again tomorrow."