In Camrose, Hockey Kings pick up 1 point against Vikings

In what could be an opening playoff round matchup, the RDC Kings Hockey team faced off against the University of Alberta (Augustana) Vikings Friday evening in Camrose. The Vikings had a 1 goal lead in the 3rd period but the Kings tied the game with under 4 minutes left. The Vikings eventually won in 3-on-3 overtime. Troy Trombley got the start in the Kings' net while Curtis Skip got the nod for the Vikings. 

On the power play, Travis Mayan put the Vikings up 1-0 at 4:24 of the 1st period. For the Kings, Blair Mulder tied the game just over 5 minutes later. Landon Kletke picked up the lone assist. Over 20 minutes, the Kings fired 17 shots at Skip while the Vikings responded with 8.

Neither team could find the back of the net in the 2nd period. Trombley turned aside all 8 shots. Skip was tested 13 more times in the middle frame. 

Dylan Coupal put Augustana up 2-1 on the power play at 8:49 of the 3rd period. On the power play, Tyler Berkholtz responded for the RDC Kings to knot the contest up 2-2. Tanner Butler and Riley Simpson picked up the assists. RDC had a 13-7 shot advantage in the 3rd period. 

The game headed to overtime. When 4-on-4 hockey solved nothing for 5 minutes, the teams went to 3-on-3. At 3:40 of the 2nd overtime period, Jeff Lorenz found the back of the net to give the Vikings a 3-2 home win. The Vikings outshot the Kings 5-3 in overtime but RDC had a 46-28 shot advantage over the game. 

Kings Hockey Head Coach Trevor Keeper was happy with the energy level.

"I was very pleased with the effort tonight. The guys played very well and dominated in many areas of the game," said Keeper. "We could play the Vikings in the 1st round and wanted to set the tone. We had a solid game. All of our defencemen played well and the Austin Hunter-Logan Sceviour-Scott Ferguson line had a good night."

The Kings pick up 1 point, improve to 24 points in the standings and remain in 5th spot. The Vikings are in 4th place. In ACAC Men's Hockey, the top 2 teams receive a bye in the opening round of the playoffs. The 3rd place team will face the 6th and the 4th and 5th place squads will square off in the 1st round. 

Saturday, Feb. 18 the RDC Kings will host the Vikings at the Penhold Multiplex at 7:00 p.m. in a rematch.