Podgorenko and Kings control Vikings at home

Brent Forster – RDC

Red Deer, AB – The RDC College Kings and University of Alberta Augustana Vikings entered Saturday's contest tied in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Men's Hockey standings with 22 points. After 60 minutes, the Kings moved up to 24 points with a convincing 8-3 victory at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre.

After a few chances at both ends, the University of Alberta Augustana Vikings struck first around the midway mark of the first period. Ben Lanfermann beat Kings' goaltender Nathan Alalouf at 10:38. Former Kings' forward, Jordan McTaggart recorded an assist along with Ryan Groom.

Traffic and effective puck movement on the Kings' man advantage eventually translated into the equalizer. Tyrell Mappin set up at the left hash marks and threaded a pass to Tyler Podgorenko who one-timed a blast on the blocker side. Mathieu Lapointe had the other assist.

Mat Lapointe (76) Colby Brochu Photography

The Kings' offence caught fire early in the middle frame. Chase Thudium scored his 13th of the year and then less than two minutes later, Tyrell Mappin converted a rebound into the back of the Vikings' net. Shortly after, the RDC power play went to work again. Ross Heidt spotted a streaking Tyler Podgorenko up ice and the defenceman from Nelson, B.C. converted his second of the game on the backhand, providing the home team a three goal edge (4-1). With 3:42 remaining, Jacob Wozney showed persistence and capitalized on a rebound, giving the home side a 5-1 lead.

Colby Brochu Photography

Early in the third, Trevor Costello redirected a pass from Tyrell Mappin behind deGraves at 1:41. Parker Smyth had the other assist. Then 14 seconds later, Jantzen Leslie scored on the backhand. Lynnden Pastachak had the lone helper. Curtis Skip took over in the Vikings net but was quickly tested. At 3:23, Chase Thudium tallied his 14th of the season after being set up by all-star defenceman Tanner Butler. At 6:41, the Vikings got their second of the game after Ryan Groom found the back of the net. Then on the power play, Evan Warmington pounced on a rebound, bringing the Vikings within five (8-3), but that was as close as the visitors would get.

Trevor Costello (28) Colby Brochu Photography

"We had to get back to the drawing board last week. We played well in one of the two games, but it was a good wake-up call when we lost in Edmonton to NAIT. We weren't very good," says Kings Head Coach Trevor Keeper. "This week in practice the guys brought a lot of energy and focus. They worked really hard to improve in what we have been working on, and it carried over to the game tonight. I thought that we were a lot better in our d-zone and our positioning, which allowed us to transition with the puck. We worked a lot on offensive zone entries and getting more guys going to the net with their stick on the ice, screening the goalie and were rewarded with eight goals." 

Mike Statchuk (4) Colby Brochu Photography

Tyler Podgorenko was selected as the Kings Player-of-the-Game, recording two goals and one assist. Ryan Groom earned the award for the Vikings, contributing one goal and one assist.

"Pods is a gifted offensive defenceman," says Keeper. "He is hard on himself sometimes, but tonight because he was playing well offensively, he played well defensively. He had a great game and we hope that continues." 

Nathan Alalouf turned aside 35 Vikings' shots (0.921). 

The RDC Kings connected two out of five times on the power play. The Vikings went two-for-six. A few alterations from the Kings coaching staff on the man advantage were effective.

"We work on the power play and penalty kill every day and we thought we had some good offensive zone possession time last weekend," says Keeper. "We didn't score on the power play last weekend so we made a couple of adjustments. We put Lapointe on one power play in front and Costello, six-foot-five 220, on the other one in front. We let the other guys move and interchange positions, but having that consistent net front screen allowed us to get some pucks through." 

On Sunday, the third place RDC Kings (11-4-1-1) will entertain the University of Alberta Augustana Vikings (11-6-0-0) at 7:00 p.m. in a rematch at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre.