Pastachak and Kings defeat Clippers in gritty effort

Brent Forster - RDC

Caronport, SK - With playoff positioning on the line, the Red Deer College Kings trailed by a pair of goals entering the third period, but remained composed and downed the Briercrest College Clippers 4-3, finishing the regular season with six consecutive victories.

The Clippers scored on the power play at 9:36 of the first period. Dawson Atamanchak got one past Arik Weersink for a 1-0 lead. 

Then at 7:04 of the second, Halen Cordoni put Briercrest College up by a pair. That lead held up until 2:24 of the third period.

Parker Smyth and Trevor Costello set up Mathieu Lapointe to get the Kings on the board. Just over three minutes later, Ryley Smith beat Dan Dekoning on the power play to knot the contest 2-2. The Kings kept applying the pressure. At 10:44, Jacob Wozney provided RDC its first lead. After Samuel Lawson evened the game 3-3, Lynnden Pastachak potted the go-ahead-goal, his eleventh marker of the season. 

Ross Heidt (74) Pic - Colby Brochu Photography

The Clippers pulled Dekoning with over a minute remaining but they couldn't connect for the equalizer. The Red Deer College Kings earned a hard fought 4-3 road victory. 

Lynnden Pastachak, a second-year Kinesiology student from Bienfait, Saskatchewan, was named the Kings Player-of-the-Game. Ben Feere received the award for the Clippers.

The RDC Kings outshot the Briercrest College Clippers 48-21. The Kings have won eight of their past ten games, and will enter the playoffs with momentum.

Mike Statchuk (4) Pic - Colby Brochu Photography

The Kings (19-7-1-1) completed their 28 regular season schedule with 40 points. The RDC Kings sit in second spot in the standings, but the NAIT Ooks and MacEwan University Griffins have a game remaining at 6:00 p.m. NAIT (20-6-0-1) is first with 41 points and MacEwan University (18-7-1-1) has 38 points. The Clippers and Portage College Voyageurs will miss the postseason. The playoff picture will be clear after the games on Saturday night.