Kings drop home game in gritty effort against NAIT

Despite the loss in Edmonton Friday night, the Red Deer College Kings Hockey team saw some positive signs on the ice. They looked to build from last night as they faced the same NAIT Ooks squad at the Penhold Multiplex on Saturday. Once again, Troy Trombley started in goal for the Kings while Brendan Jensen was between the pipes for the Ooks. Both goaltenders played well in Edmonton and carried that over tonight. The game was close for the majority of the contest but NAIT capitalized on a few opportunities in the third period for a 3-0 victory.

The RDC Kings opened their first home game of 2017 in Penhold with good energy. The King's forecheck put pressure on NAIT in their defensive zone. Both goalies were unbeatable in the first period. Trombley stopped 6 shots while the Kings tested Jensen 6 times.

The second period was fairly even. Both teams did a good job of limiting the high quality scoring opportunities. When a scoring chance occurred in front the rebound was often cleared away.

Total shots after 40 minutes slightly favoured the Ooks 12-10.

Forty-eight seconds into the third period Tanner Dunkle opened the scoring to put NAIT up 1-0. At 12:49 NAIT extended their lead 2-0 when Keyler Hehn found the back of the net. The Kings had some push back and came close on a few opportunities but Jensen was unbeatable on the night. RDC hit the post with about 3 minutes remaining but unfortuately the bounce didn't go their way. With 33 seconds remaining Cameron Brezinski of the Ooks scored to complete the 3-0 win. The Kings outshot the Ooks 13-11 in the final period and each team finished with a total of 23 shots on goal. Blair Mulder had a gritty game and his hard work made a difference on the ice. 

RDC Kings Head Coach Trevor Keeper thought that his team had a good effort in a statistically close game but NAIT's goaltender made an impact.

"NAIT has the top goalie in the league right now. Jensen's played every game for them. We put some quality chances on net but couldn't score and it was the same thing last night," said Keeper. "It was a close game in the stats in every factor. NAIT has some very high end players and we had 4 very good periods against them this weekend." 

NAIT's Brendan Jensen leads all ACAC goalies with a 1.75 goals against average, 0.943 save percentage and a 0.833 win percentage. Troy Trombley also has impressive statistics with a 2.24 goals against average and a 0.926 save percentage which are both third best among ACAC goaltenders.

Keeper also gave his goaltenders credit for their solid play.

"Trombley has played well for us. He faced some tough shooters this weekend but showed why he is one of the top goalies in the league," said Keeper. "Devon Fordyce and Mike Salmon also played well before the break against the Lacombe Generals in our overtime wins."

Trombley was chosen as the Kings player-of-the-game while Brendan Jensen was the Ooks player-of-the-game. The Kings went 0-for-10 on the power play but also effectively killed off all 7 of NAIT's man advantages. 

At the Penhold Multiplex, on Saturday, Jan. 14 the Kings host the University of Alberta Augustana Vikings at 7:00 p.m.