Kings' power play remains strong, but Griffins pick up home win

Saturday evening, the Red Deer College Kings Hockey team faced-off against the MacEwan University Griffins in Edmonton, and despite the Kings' power play remaining hot the Griffins skated to a 4-1 home win. 

Troy Trombley started in net for the RDC Kings while Marc-Olivier Daigle was at the other end of the ice for the Griffins. 

Neither team could score in the opening 20 minutes. Trombley turned aside 12 shots and Daigle contended with 11 attempts from the Kings.

In the second period, Cameron Gotaas and Nolan Yaremchuk scored 9:25 apart and gave MacEwan University a 2-0 lead. At 13:22, Dylan Baer struck on the power play and pulled the Kings within a goal. Dylan Thudium picked up the lone helper. As the period was winding down, Ryan Baskerville gave the Griffins a 3-1 edge. Trombley was tested 17 times and Daigle had 15 shots to deal with in the second period.

At 3:32 of the final frame, Ryan Baskerville scored his second goal of the game and gave MacEwan University a 3 goal cushion. Time eventually expired and the Griffins won 4-1 on home ice. In the third period, Trombley turned aside 16 out of 17 shots and the Kings challenged Daigle with 11 shots. Over 60 minutes, Trombley stopped 42 out of 46 shots and 1 puck beat Daigle out of 37 shots.

Dylan Baer, an Electrical Engineering Technology student from Regina, was named the player-of-the-game for RDC. 

Kings Hockey Head Coach Trevor Keeper thought that today's effort was at a higher level but the Kings are still looking to improve aspects of their game. "We played better tonight but we had trouble getting our shots off quickly and we missed a few opportunities," said Keeper. "Our five-on-five play hasn't been as strong as we'd like."

The power play continues to click. "Our first power play unit of Tyler Berkholtz-Dylan Thudium-Lynnden Pastachak-Tanner Butler-Dylan Baer played well and scored for us tonight," said Keeper. "Jason Miller and Scott Ferguson also had a good game. They worked hard and were strong on the forecheck."

The Kings (4 - 4) will compete against the SAIT Trojans (6 - 2) on Thursday, November 9 at 7:00 p.m. at the Penhold Multiplex.