Butler and the Kings handily defeat Voyageurs in Penhold

Brent Forster - RDC

Saturday afternoon, the Red Deer College Kings Hockey team hosted the Portage College Voyageurs and the Kings set the tone early. The Kings scored 5 goals in the first period, outscored the Voyageurs 3-1 in the second period and skated to an 8-1 home victory.

Troy Trombley got the nod between the pipes for the Kings while Ben Dennis started for the Voyageurs. The RDC Kings were ready to compete from the drop of the puck and only 20 seconds into the first period, Scott Ferguson opened the scoring for the Kings. Landon Kletke and Dylan Baer picked up the assists. On the power play, Tyrell Mappin gave the Kings a 2-0 lead at 5:52. Scott Ferguson and Trevor Costello had the helpers. At 6:09, Lynnden Pastachak struck on the power play to extend the Kings' lead to 3. Ty Mappin and David Heath set up the goal on the man advantage. The Kings continued to apply pressure and at 13:16, Tanner Butler put the Kings up 4-0 on the power play. Dylan Thudium started the play and passed to his brother, Chase Thudium, in the corner to the right of Dennis. Chase Thudium spotted Butler pinching in from the point and the smooth-skating defender one-timed the set up by the Voyageurs' goaltender. With 2:19 remaining in the first period, Nick Fountain gave RDC a 5-0 lead. Butler sent Donovan Lumb up the right side who made a perfect pass to a charging Nick Fountain. The Bachelor of Arts student from Wainwright made no mistake and buried the puck behind Dennis. Over 20 minutes, the Kings outshot the Voyageurs 17-8.

Olivier Charest replaced Dennis in the Voyageurs' net. The RDC Kings continued to press in the second period. With 9:30 remaining in the second period, Dylan Thudium scored to give the Kings a 6 goal cushion. Tyler Berkholtz and Tanner Butler set up the tally. Twenty-four seconds later, David Heath shot from the point and his wrister found the back of the net. Trevor Costello and Tyrell Mappin assisted on the Kings' seventh goal. With 7:35 left in the middle frame, Arie Postmus shot from close range and beat Charest. Tyler Podgorenko and Ben Williams recorded the assists. The Voyageurs got on the scoreboard at 13:16 on the power play. From the left circle, Cody Bird scored high on the far side of the net to make it 8-1. Shots were even 12-12 in the second period.

Neither team scored in the third period. RDC outshot the Voyageurs 13-7 in the final frame. Over 60 minutes, the Kings tested the Voyageurs' goaltenders 42 times while Trombley stopped 26 out of 27 shots from Portage College for an impressive 0.963 save percentage. The RDC Kings killed off 4 out of 5 Voyageurs' power plays and connected on 3-of-7 man advantages.

Tyrell Mappin, who had a 3 point afternoon, was named the player-of-the-game for RDC Kings while Eli Jarvis received the award for the Portage College Voyageurs.

RDC Kings Hockey Head Coach Trevor Keeper liked the quick start. "Last weekend, we had an overtime win against SAIT on Friday, and on Saturday we wanted to score early, stay aggressive and we did the exact same thing again today," said Keeper. "It was addressed in the pre-game meeting and the guys responded."

The Kings have a deep lineup which creates problems for the opposition. "Against SAIT in our 8-1 win, we had eight different scorers and in today's win we also had eight different scorers," said Keeper. "We have four lines and three sets of defencemen that can produce offensively."

The Kings have steadily improved this season and are looking forward to a good test next weekend against the first place NAIT Ooks. "Our goal is to get better every week in practice and games. We've only had two games this year where we haven't played very well out of our first twelve," said Keeper. "NAIT is a good team but we also have been playing well. We will prepare for them, work hard in practice and finish off the last two games of the first half of the season hopefully playing our best hockey."

Tanner Butler has been one of the key contributors for the Kings this season and his game keeps trending up. "Tanner stepped up coming into camp this year and we named him captain. He's a good leader and he knows that he needs to lead by example," said Keeper. "Putting the C on him gave him motivation to do that. He loves being the captain of the Kings and he's playing like it."

Butler liked the ability of the Kings to push the pace Saturday afternoon. "We came out flying off the hop and I thought we played really well," he said. "Our speed kills." The defenceman from Souris, Manitoba leads Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Men's Hockey with 12 assists and 19 points. "Being in the league for four years now, I know what's going on and I have more confidence in my game," said Butler. The Open Studies student likes the makeup of the Kings' lineup this year. "We are a lot faster this season, that's for sure," he added. "We work hard and bringing in assistant coach Brandin Cote has helped a lot."

The RDC Kings (8-4-0-0) will compete against the NAIT Ooks (10-0-1-1) in Edmonton on Friday, November 24 at 7:00 p.m. Twenty-four hours later, the Kings will host the Ooks at 7:00 p.m. at the Penhold Multiplex. The Kings share second spot in ACAC Men's Hockey with the MacEwan University Griffins. Both teams have 16 points while the NAIT Ooks sit in top spot with 22 points.