Friday night at 7pm the Clare Drake Arena on the University of Alberta Campus will host a game between the defending ACAC champion Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Ooks and the defending CIS champion U of A Golden Bears. The Golden Bears are coming off their second straight national title, while the Ooks have captured 2 of the past three ACAC titles (2012-13, 2014-15). The game is part of the Brick Invitational being held at the Clare Drake this weekend.
The event will also feature the following games (all games at the Clare Drake):
- University of British Columbia Thunderbirds vs. the University of Saskatchewan Huskies (Friday at 3pm)
- U of A versus NAIT (Friday at 7pm)
- NAIT versus UBC (Saturday at 2pm)
- U of A versus Saskatchewan (Saturday at 6pm)
The Friday night game versus the Bears and Ooks features an interesting story line. Serge Lajoie, who was the ACAC Coach of the Year award recipient for the 2014-15 season, was behind the bench for the Ooks in March when they captured the ACAC Championship after sweeping the SAIT Trojans two games to none. Over the summer, Lajoie moved across town after accepting the head coaching position at the University of Alberta when Ian Herbers left the Bears to join the staff of the Oilers. Coach Lajoie was gracious enough to grant The Oilers Rig an interview prior to the game between the Bears and the Edmonton Oilers Rookies. You can listen to the interview here.
The Ooks shouldn’t be a pushover for the Bears as the ACAC Champions had their leagues top five leading scorers last season. The Golden Bears have their only loss in the pre-season courtesy of the Edmonton Oilers rookie team and own a 3-1 record. Expect a good game on Friday between the local post secondary rivals.
As for the other teams participating in the Brick Invitational this weekend, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies went 10-15-1-2 last season finishing 6th in Canada West. The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds, who already dropped a pair of preseason games against the Golden Bears played in Kamloops earlier this month, went 13-10-5-0 last season and finished 4th in Canada West.
The Golden Bears and Ooks both finished first overall in the regular season in their respective leagues.
If you want to watch great hockey this weekend head down to the Clare Drake.
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