Men’s Hockey
The men’s hockey team is moving on to the finals after sweeping the University of Alberta Augustana, winning 4-2 and then 3-1. On Friday, it was Augustana opening the scoring at the 10:30 mark of the first period. Augustana carried the 1-0 lead to the second period. It looked like there would be no scoring in the second, but Augustana would add to the lead with just 46 seconds left. NAIT would come storming back in the third, starting with Brandon Lawson getting the Ooks on the board just 2:24 into the period. Just a minute later, Cale Lyons would tie the game for the Ooks. Eric Lacombe would give NAIT their only lead at the 10:55 mark of the third on the powerplay before icing the game with an empty netter with 16 seconds left. On Saturday, Mitchell Williams opened the scoring for the Ooks on the powerplay 4:28 into the second period. Exactly 12 minutes later, Colin Schmit would make it 2-0 for the Ooks, letting NAIT take a 2-0 lead into the third. Augustana would get one back with 2:45 to play, but it was too little too late as Drae Gardiner would ice the game and series with an empty netter with 35 seconds left. Up next for the Ooks, it’s the start of the finals–a best-of-five against Red Deer Polytechnic. NAIT has won one of four meetings between these two teams. It will be interesting to see how fatigue will play into the series, with Red Deer being the top seed and a bye into the semis, but also having two games of their three-game series against Concordia go into extended overtime. The first home game of the series for NAIT is on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Women’s Hockey
The women’s hockey team is also moving on to the finals, sweeping the Olds College Broncos winning 2-0 and then 4-1. On Friday, NAIT would get on the board at the 13:54 mark of the first, with Cassidy Shandro picking up the icebreaker. That would be all the scoring the Ooks would need, and it would be all they got until Sierra Meroniuk gave them insurance on the powerplay with just 1:06 left in the game. On Saturday, Taylor Premak would get the Ooks on the board at 7:09 of the first. Then she got a second at 16:22 in the first. Josie Nichols would then get into the scoring 16 seconds later to put NAIT up 3-0. Olds would get one back with under two minutes to play in the second, but that would be the closest Olds would get. Charlize Sallis would put NAIT back up by three at the 14:22 mark of the third. Next, the women’s hockey team will also play Red Deer Polytechnic in the finals. This will be a close series, with NAIT having won three of the five regular-season meetings and every game except the first only being decided by one goal. The first home game of the series for NAIT is on Friday at 7 p.m.
Cover photo via NAIT Ooks
