Thursday Thunder Player of the Week is 21-year-old Brennan Lucas.

From Airdrie, Lucas grew up playing for teams within the city like Airdrie Lightning U15 AA and Airdrie Lightning U18 AA.

Now in the playoffs taking the Three Hills Thrashers The Thunder clinched their spot after beating the Red Deer Vipers on Friday 8-4. The Thunder are now in a three games series to determine who takes on the first-placed team in the North Division the Sylvan Lake Wranglers

The Thunder have finished the regular season with an 11-23-4 record as they now look for 12 more wins to claim their spot as champions of the Heritage Junior Hockey League.

"Brennan has always been a dependable D and this weekend wasn't different. He is easily one of the nicest, hardest working players I have had on my team," stated Thunder Head Coach Randy Buckle.

Lucas has three assists in 26 games as a defenseman on the season. He is proud of how he has played this season.

"Offensive numbers weren't quite where I wanted them to be. But I've embraced the role as a shutdown defenseman and have been quite happy with my play, especially recently."

This is the final year Lucas can play with the Thunder. So he hopes the team is able to make a deep run. He went on to talk about what he thinks the keys are to the Thunder's success.

"I think a big thing comes down to is sacrifice, which means blocking shots, making hits and never taking a shift off while giving it your all."

Being a young team this year, Lucas is proud of everybody who has stepped up.

"I've been very impressed since Christmas break with a lot of our young guys. I feel like they've stepped into their role and have increased our chances of making it further into the playoffs this year."

Game one of the series was last night in Airdrie where the Thunder won 2-0. Game two is tonight while if needed, game three is tomorrow night, both in Three Hills.

This is the last Thursday Thunder for this hockey season as the Thunder start their run in the playoffs.

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