Thunder Athletics Weekly Recap - Week 12

Another week, another weekend of games for Thunder Athletics. Curling participated in their first tournament of the season, while hockey and volleyball are right in the thick of their schedules. Check out what happened this week below.

Curling

The curling season is now underway after the Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed teams each participated in the Fall Regional hosted by the SAIT Trojans.

The men’s team finished 2-3 on the weekend, defeating SAIT 6-2 and U of A Augustana 13-2. They ended up taking the loss in their other three games, falling to Red Deer Polytechnic 9-1, Lakeland College 8-4, and a narrow defeat via NAIT 9-8.

Women’s curling ended the weekend at 4-2, looking to build on their CCAA National Bronze medal finish last season. The four wins included a 6-4 victory over Lakeland, a 7-5 win over NAIT, a tight 7-6 triumph over U of A Augustana, and an easy 8-0 win against Portage College.

The reigning ACAC Mixed Team champions had a tough first weekend going 0-3. With many new players on the squad this year, there will be an adjustment period. Their three losses came at the hands of NAIT, Lakeland, and SAIT.

All three teams will be back for tournament #2 in the winter semester, when NAIT hosts the Winter Regional on January 15th, 16th and 17th.

Hockey

It was a much needed weekend of wins for Thunder Hockey as the group faced off against the U of A Augustana Vikings on both Friday and Saturday nights.

Concordia battled back from an early 2-1 deficit Friday to earn a 4–3 home win over Augustana, powered by a standout night from Isaac Leik, who scored twice, including the third-period go-ahead marker. Liam Fitzgerald added a crucial power-play goal, while Griffin Bowerman turned aside 29 shots to secure the victory. The Thunder’s resilient third period sealed an important result against a Vikings team who was ahead of the Thunder by one game in the standings going into Friday.

On Saturday the Thunder rallied again, this time from an early 2–0 deficit with four unanswered goals to earn a 4–3 win over the Augustana Vikings. Concordia took control with a dominant second period, highlighted by goals from Dylan Handel and Ryley Morgan, while Grayson Reid and Noah Wilson provided first-period tallies to pull CUE even. Griffin Bowerman backstopped the victory with 29 saves, securing Thunder's second straight win over the Vikings.

With the back-to-back wins the Thunder are now 4-6, tied for fourth in the ACAC Hockey Standings. They’ll have one final weekend of play for the semester this coming weekend, taking on the Portage College Voyageurs on Friday and Saturday night. Both teams are going into the weekend with identical 4-6 records.

Volleyball

Both Thunder volleyball teams had only one game to play this past week as they travelled to Red Deer to take on the Queens and Kings on Saturday night.

The women's team showed steady improvement as the match progressed, highlighted by strong offensive stretches in the second and third sets. Emma Thompson led the Thunder with 10 kills and a .409 hitting percentage, while Alex MacDonald added 5 kills and 3 aces. Despite the push, Red Deer’s efficiency proved the difference in a 3–0 final with set scores of 25-16, 25-19, and 25-21.

Concordia men’s volleyball battled hard against Red Deer Polytechnic (RDP) but came up short in a 3–0 decision. Brodie Wight’s 10 kills and Alexi Dufour’s 9 kills powered the Thunder’s offence, while Liam Frost added stability with 21 assists. Despite stretches of strong hitting in the second set, the Thunder couldn’t consistently break through RDP’s defence with set scores of 25-18, 25-20, and 25-19.

Both teams will be on the road to end the fall semester. They’ll head to Olds College to take on the Broncos Saturday night for their final game of 2025. Heading into the weekend, women’s volleyball is 4-4 and men’s volleyball is at 2-6.