RDC Kings and community of Sylvan Lake win

Brent Forster - RDC

Sylvan Lake, AB – There was a lot of excitement at NexSource Centre Friday afternoon as the RDC Kings hosted the MacEwan University Griffins, in a charity game which supported Sylvan Lake Community Partners Association (CPA). Backed by the solid goaltending of Arik Weersink, the Kings shutout the defending ACAC champions 3-0.

It was a good pace to start the first period, but defence and goaltending highlighted the opening 20 minutes. MacEwan University's Marc-Olivier Daigle was a bit busier in net, stopping ten shots. Defenceman Trevor Costello was the only Kings player to beat Daigle, but his shot rang off the left post. RDC's netminder Arik Weersink made seven saves to keep the Griffins off the scoresheet.

At 17:40 of the second period, RDC's Ryley Smith broke the deadlock. The Open Studies student intercepted a pass and found himself in alone on Daigle, beating the netminder on the stick side for a 1-0 edge.

Then the Kings struck early in the third. Only 1:48 into the final frame, Sylvan Lake's Scott Ferguson capitalized on a rebound, providing the Kings a two goal edge. Lynnden Pastachak and Trevor Costello had the assists. 

"I gave it to our D and I went to the net, and hoped that it got to my stick," said Ferguson. "Luckily it bounced the right way and I was able to tap it home."

The Griffins pulled Daigle with over two minutes left but Weersink stood tall. With 1:32 remaining, Lynnden Pastachak scored into the empty net, sealing a 3-0 victory. 

Arik Weersink was outstanding, earning the Kings Player-of-the-Game. The Business Administration student made 31 saves to earn the victory in net. Mark-Olivier Daigle was named the Griffins top performer and turned aside 29 out of 31 shots.

Kings Head Coach Trevor Keeper liked many aspects of Weersink's game. "Arik is very poised. He's not overactive and is controlled in the net. If we have players with stick on puck and in shot lanes, he will stop the long ones," said Keeper. "He's been doing a good job of directing them into the corners and controlling rebounds. When you don't get second and third opportunities on rebounds, that's when the other team won't score as many goals as they normally would."

The game was as solid as the Kings have played all season and it can be attributed to preparation and practice. "About three weeks ago, we were playing fairly well but lost a couple of games where we thought we shouldn't have, and it was because of little mistakes in the d-zone," said Keeper. "So, for the past two and a half weeks or so in practice, we started from scratch again in our zone, working on one-on-ones, two-on-twos, three-on-threes and built up to five-on-five play in zone. So the other team doesn't have zone time and as much space to make plays, and when you do that you cause turnovers, and we can use our speed to attack."

The game took on special meaning for three RDC student-athletes. Chase and Dylan Thudium, along with Scott Ferguson grew up in Sylvan Lake. "It's probably been almost ten years since I played my last game in Sylvan and it was just how I remembered it. Always good fans out here and community support," said Ferguson. "Sylvan is such a good hockey town. It's great to be able to come back and be involved at the schools - read to kids and actually spend time in the community where a lot of guys grew up. It's nice coming back to the roots and playing a game in front of the hometown again."

It was a tremendous reception from Sylvan Lake having the RDC Kings and coaches involved in the community, on and off the ice.

"It is really important to our program and to the community of Sylvan Lake. Both of my assistant coaches are from here and put in a tremendous amount of work to pull off our hockey day in Sylvan," said Keeper. "I think they had a hundred kids on the ice between 10:00 and noon on the other sheet for a free skills clinic. It's a great promotion and have people come out and watch, and see our brand of hockey. Not a lot of people understand what our college game is like and now hopefully they will want to come to the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre, and see some action."

With the victory, the Kings (16-7-1-1) have sole possession of third spot with 34 points. MacEwan University (18-6-1-0) is second with 37 points and NAIT (20-6-0-0) leads the pack with 40. 

The Red Deer College Kings will face the MacEwan University Griffins on Wednesday, February 27 at 6:00 p.m. in Edmonton and then will finish out the regular season next weekend against the Briercrest College Clippers. On Friday, March 1, the Clippers will host the Kings at 7:00 p.m. and then on Saturday, the two teams will meet at 2:00 p.m. in the Kings' final regular season game.

While the game was free for fans, the proceeds from the 50/50 went to Sylvan Lake CPA. Donations were also accepted for the registered non-profit charity that serves Sylvan Lake and neighbouring communities. The CPA hosts a variety of events, and offers many services and programs, some of which include emergency food hampers, medical equipment loan services and Tools 4 School. A total of $781.50 went to the charity.