Kings sweep weekend series against Vikings, Queens shutout by Rustlers
Red Deer and Lloydminster, January 13, 2024 – For a second consecutive night, the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings offence exploded for eight goals but needed overtime to sweep the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings this weekend.
On the women's side, the Queens were held scoreless and dropped a close one in Lloydminster against the Lakeland College Rustlers.
See below for more information regarding each game.
Queens Hockey – Queens 0 at Lakeland College Rustlers 1
The two teams were held scoreless for the first 40 minutes of play with the Queens outshooting the Rustlers 21-16 in the two periods.
However just over eight minutes into the third period, Rustlers forward Hailey Carothers netted her league-leading 13th goal on the powerplay which ended up being the game-winner with the Queens not able to solve goaltender Janae Neufeld.
At the end of the game, both teams each had 14 minutes in penalties while the Queens outshot the Rustlers 23-20.
Stopping 19 of 20 shots, goaltender Izzy Palumbo (Bachelor of Commerce) was awarded the Queens player of the game.
RDP will be back in action for a two-game homestand starting on January 26 when they host the Medicine Hat College Rattlers for the first time in program history. The Queens have played and won all three games against the Rattlers on the road this season. The puck will drop at 7 pm on Friday.
Kings Hockey – University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings 7 at Kings 8
The goals kept coming 24 hours later for the Kings as they were able to open the scoring within three minutes of the puck dropping with forward Chance Longjohn (Bachelor of Education) squeaking a shot through the pads of Vikings goaltender Justin Bourque for the opening goal of the game.
Forward Ryland McNinch (Bachelor of Education) would add his second goal of the weekend as he too was able to backhand a shot through the pads of the Augustana goaltender after a beautiful setup by linemate Holden Knights (Business Certificate).
At the end of the opening 20 minutes, the Kings took a 2-0 and an 11-9 shot lead into the second period.
But the Vikings would cut the lead in half on the powerplay with a one-timer from forward Jayven Leslie who was able to get the puck between Kings goaltender Arik Weersink (Kinesiology and Sports Studies) and the near post.
Moments later, the Kings regained their two-goal lead on a two-on-one breakaway with Longjohn setting up forward Jacob Wozney (Bachelor of Education) for his fourth goal of the season.
The Vikings would cut their deficit down to one goal after a scramble draw in the Kings zone led to a goal from forward Colby Wolter who wristed one past Weersink to make it a 3-2 game.
Following yet another assist by Knights, the Kings would go back up by two goals with a goal from forward Erik Miller (Bachelor of Business Administration) who managed to tuck it away from a tough angle.
Vikings forward Ben Stollery made it a one-goal game with a shot from the blueline on the powerplay with under two minutes to go in the second period.
At the end of the period, Augustana had the upper hand in shots with 23 to Red Deer's 19.
Within three minutes of the puck dropping on the third period, Stollery was able to find the Vikings equalizer and a minute later, forward Jacob Biensch wristed one past Weersink to give his team their first lead of the hockey game.
But the Kings fought back and tied it up at five with a goal from forward Hayden Clayton (Justice Studies) just two minutes after the Vikings scored to make it 5-4.
The goals kept coming for Augustana with forward Gerrik Ripley getting on the scoresheet and regaining the Vikings one goal lead.
The back-and-forth third period continued with forward Dawson Leroux tallying his third goal of the season.
Less than a minute apart, the Vikings and Kings each tallied their seventh goal of the game. Augustana struck first with forward Jaxon Georget scoring his fifth of the season but Kings defenceman Jarod Newell (Open Studies) fired a shot which took a bad bounce off the glass and into the back of the net.
The game needed some three-on-three to solve this high-scoring affair between these two central Alberta teams with the Kings ending it under two minutes into overtime with defenceman Ty Ettinger (Bachelor of Education) tipping in his first goal of the season and just his second goal of his ACAC career.
Head Coach Trevor Keeper explained the team's sudden outburst in scoring this weekend.
"We could always score but just were not in sync in the first semester. Our injuries on defence have caused some inconsistencies in defending. But they are learning and hopefully we can keep this up as the semester goes on."
For his game-winning goal and his three-point performance, Ettinger was awarded the player of the game. On the other side of the ice, Stollery took home this honour for the Vikings with two goals and two assists in the loss.
Next week Friday, these two teams will be back in action with Augustana hosting the SAIT Trojans while the Kings welcome the Concordia University Thunder to the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre. Both games will start at 7 pm.