Thudium and Ferguson score, but Griffins down Kings in Penhold

Brent Forster - RDC

Friday evening, the Red Deer College Kings Hockey team faced the defending champions, the MacEwan University Griffins, at the Penhold Multiplex and only one goal separated the teams over two periods. The Griffins scored four goals in the third period and skated to a 6-2 road win.

Troy Trombley, from Sherwood Park, started for the Kings while Chris Wray was in net for the Griffins.

Special teams were the story in the first period. Ben Williams and the Kings did a nice job on the penalty kill and kept the Griffins to the outside. On the power play, Dylan Thudium scored his sixth goal of the season with 5 seconds remaining in the first period to give RDC a 1-0 edge. Thudium took a wrist shot from the high slot with traffic in front and beat Wray on the glove side. Tanner Butler started the play from his own end and effectively gained the offensive zone to set up the play. Lynnden Pastachak picked up the other assist. The Griffins outshot the Kings 13-6.

At 1:03 into the second period, the Griffins' Brett Smythe tied the game with a low wrist shot to the right side. With 9:19 remaining in the period, Taylor Mulder put MacEwan University up 2-1. Off a broken play, the puck squirted out front and Mulder found the back of the net. The Kings tested Wray 9 times while the Griffins had 13 shots on Trombley in the middle frame.

At 3:08 into the third period, Tyler Morrison scored on the power play to give MacEwan University a 3-1 lead. Morrison was parked to the left side of Trombley and quickly redirected a pass into the cage. The Griffins went up 4-1 off a Jacob Schofield backhand 1:07 later. With 6:59 left in the third period, Nakehko Lamothe extended MacEwan University's margin to 4 goals (5-1). On the power play, Scott Ferguson beat Wray with 1:21 left in the game to reduce MacEwan's lead to 3 (5-2). Landon Kletke picked up the assist on Ferguson's goal. Brett Smythe put the Griffins up 6-2 with only 18 seconds remaining. Over 60 minutes, MacEwan University outshot RDC 34-23.

Dylan Thudium, a Bachelor of Commerce student from Sylvan Lake, was named the player-of-the-game for the Kings. Brett Smythe received the honour for the Griffins.

RDC Kings Hockey Head Coach Trevor Keeper would like to see better puck management and consistency. "Tonight was our worst game of the year in terms of managing the puck. We had a tough time going tape-to-tape, entering the offensive zone and there were a lot of turnovers," said Keeper. "We gave up a lot of odd man rushes. It was one of those games where half the team was going and the other half wasn't ready to play."

Keeper appreciated the play of one RDC line in particular. "I liked the Jason Miller-Scott Ferguson-Landon Kletke line. They are usually penalty killers and grinders, but they can score," said Keeper. "They got a power play goal for us and they did the best job forechecking and keeping possession of the puck."

The Kings feel comfortable playing at the Downtown Community Arena in Edmonton. "We like playing up there - it's good ice and we've had success there," said Keeper. "We have to watch the video, realize what we did wrong, let it slide off and get back at it real quick. We want to grab a win tomorrow and get back to how we've been playing."

The RDC Kings (4-3) will compete against the MacEwan University Griffins (3-4) on Saturday, November 5 at 6:00 p.m. in Edmonton.