This season has been an exciting one for the Thunder Athletes with Hockey, Volleyball, and Basketball wrapping up their regular seasons. Here is the most recent sports coverage by Concordia Thunder. This coverage is from February 25th.
Hockey
Thunder Hockey controlled their own destiny this weekend, as with one win against the Portage Voyageurs, the boys would lock down their playoff spot in the ACAC Hockey Championships.
Friday night’s road game saw a back and forth battle between the Thunder and the Voyageurs, eventually ending in a 4-3 overtime victory for CUE. Between the pipes, Ashton Billesberger stood tall making 45 saves on 48 shots.
Back on home ice, the Thunder failed to find the same success as on the previous night, as they were downed 5-2 by Portage. The Thunder will finish the regular season 9-15, and find themselves locked into the final playoff spot.
Unfortunately, despite playing their hearts out, the Thunder fell short and lost their playoff run to the NAIT Ooks.
Basketball
In the final regular season games for Thunder Basketball, both teams were looking for wins to get a clear view of the playoff picture. With wins against NAIT, the women could potentially lock up the top spot in the ACAC North, while the men could strengthen their chances at making a post-season appearance.
The Thunder women saw balanced production from their starting line up in Friday’s home game against the Ooks. Ultimately, the women would lose a hard-fought game 80-71. The Thunder would follow that up with yet another close loss to NAIT, this time being downed by the Ooks 68-61.
Despite fairly equal production from the starting five, the Thunder men were unable to overcome a strong NAIT team, as they fell 86-69 at home on Friday night. The men were once again unable to overcome the Ooks’ strong offence on the road on Saturday night, losing 105-71.
Despite the two losses, the Thunder Women finish the regular season with an impressive 16-4 record, and will head to Briercrest College for ACAC Basketball Championships. Meanwhile, the Men end the weekend with a 7-12 record, and will travel down south for their final game of the season against Medicine Hat, still with a chance to qualify for the post-season.
Volleyball
The Men’s and Women’s Volleyball teams closed out their seasons this weekend against the NAIT Ooks. Although both teams were out of playoff contention, they still looked to finish off the season on a high note.
On Friday night, the women managed to pick up one set in a 3-1 loss. The women were able to flip the script on Saturday, as they returned home to CUE. It was an historic night for Emma Thompson, who broke multiple Concordia records in a 3-2 win for the Thunder. Emma put up 19 kills, bringing her career total to 601 and surpassing the previous record of 588, while her one service ace on the night brought her career total to 85, beating the previous record of 84.
The Thunder men would finish off their season with 3-0 losses on both Friday and Saturday.
The Thunder women narrowly miss out on a playoff spot, finishing the season with a respectable record of 8-11, a massive improvement over the previous year. For the Men, a frustrating season comes to an end, as they finish the year 2-17.
Futsal
CUE’s Men’s and Women’s Futsal teams played in their second tournament of the season this weekend. Both teams played extremely well, with the women going a perfect 3-0, while the men would finish with a strong record of 2-0-1.
The Thunder men showed off their offensive prowess this weekend, scoring a total of 14 goals in three matches to show a 4-1 win over RDP. The team followed up with a dominant 7-2 win that saw scoring contributions from multiple players. In their final game, the boys came up against a strong NAIT squad and drew 3-3.
The Thunder women dominated play this weekend, winning a perfect three matches out of three. In a close 2-1 win over RDP. The women followed up with a strong performance against NWP, winning 5-0. Goalkeeper Taytum Busch earned herself a clean sheet, saving all 16 shots she faced. In their final game against NAIT, the Thunder took the win with a final score of 2-1.
Both teams finished their regular seasons atop the Northwest Division, with the women on 15 points with a 5-1 record, and the men on 13 points with a 4-1-1 record. Thunder Futsal now looks ahead to the ACAC Championships in Medicine Hat on March 20th.
Curling
The Thunder Men’s and Women’s Curling teams traveled to Regina for CCAA Curling Nationals this weekend, with both teams looking to make a statement and capture some hardware.
The women’s team went 4-3 in the round robin stage of the competition, beating the likes of the Mohawk Mountaineers (9-4), Assiniboine Cougars (11-2), Humber Hawks (15-2), and the Niagara Knights (5-4). In the playoff round, the women would lose out to RDP (5-6) before being downed by PacWest (4-5), and finishing in fourth place with an overall record of 4-5.
The Men’s team went 1-6 in the round robin stage, with their only win of the weekend coming against the Mohawk Mountaineers (7-5). The team would play one game in the playoff stages, ultimately losing to the SAIT Trojans (5-6), and finished in last place with a record of 1-7.
Badminton
Concordia’s Badminton team traveled to TKU for the ACAC Championships. The team looked to carry their momentum after a strong performance in the ACAC Tournament #3.
In Single’s play, Mattias Andersson had a strong performance for CUE, finishing third overall and capturing bronze. On the women’s side, Emma Tran had a strong tournament but ultimately fell just shy of the podium, finishing in fourth place.
In double’s competition, partners Jonathan Su and Raphael Motel played well, coming up just short in the final and losing in three games to the pair from NAIT, ultimately winning silver.
Thanks to their strong performance, Jonathan and Raphael will be traveling to New Brunswick to compete in CCAA Badminton Nationals from March 4th to March 7th.
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