Griffins over Kings, teams share first place

Brent Forster - RDC

With information from Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics

Edmonton, AB - With the MacEwan University Griffins down to five defenceman for most of the contest, they held off a physical RDC Kings team and captured a 6 - 2 home win. 

Cameron Reagan scored MacEwan's first goal 2:24 into the contest when his wrist shot from the right circle eluded RDC goalie Troy Trombley.

After the Kings tied the game at 14:14 on a nice deflection from Trevor Costello past Marc-Olivier Daigle, Reagan struck for his second at 4:42, ripping a one-time slapshot from the point through traffic.

Trevor Costello (28)  Photo - Tony Hansen

With the game in doubt for much of the second period, the Griffins' Brett Njaa whipped a pass across the seam down low to Stefan Danielson, who immediately sent a hard pass through the crease to Ryan Hartman, who completed the one-timer.

Just over a minute later, Brett Njaa added to the lead.

MacEwan got a fifth goal 7:48 into the third period when Brett Smythe found the cage.

Donovan Lumb got one back for the Kings midway through the third, reducing the margin to 5 - 2 and scoring off a rebound when Dylan Baer hit the post off a point shot.

Donovan Lumb (34)  Photo - Tony Hansen

Jacob Schofield gave the Griffins their sixth tally of the contest with 7:17 left, charging onto his own rebound and jamming it past Trombley for the 6 - 2 decision.

Austin Hunter, a RDC Business Administration Marketing student, recorded a pair of assists.

With the Griffins' win, they move into a tie for top spot with the RDC Kings (5 - 1 - 0 - 1) in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Men's Hockey standings. Both teams have 11 points and the SAIT Trojans (5 - 1 - 0 - 0) are one point back. 

The teams will meet again on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in Red Deer at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre.