RDP Kings put forth dominant effort over Clippers to earn first round bye

Red Deer, AB - With an opportunity to earn a bye to the semi-finals, the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings were ready to play from the drop of the puck Saturday afternoon.

"Today, we wanted a good start and then just consistency to keep that going and really focusing on 20 minutes, 20 minutes, 20 minutes and finishing the job," said Trevor Keeper, RDP Kings Hockey Head Coach.

The Kings had a great start, exploding for four goals in the first period and earning a 6-1 home victory over the Briercrest College Clippers in the final regular season contest.

"The guys were pretty loose and it felt like we weren't going to lose. We've been saying it all week that this is like playoffs," said RDP forward Jacob Wozney, who was named the North Star Sports Kings Player of the Game. "We knew that we had a job to do. I'm really glad that the guys were ready to go and we got it done."

Kings fifth-year forward Chance Longjohn (Bachelor of Education Middle Years) opened the scored at 11:05 of the opening frame. Wozney and Erik Miller had the assists.

Longjohn (11)

"I saw Millsy take the puck down low and I called for it," said Longjohn." He found me and I just tried putting it on net – far side and it went in. Good pass from Millsy."

One minute later, Sylvan Lake's Hayden Clayton capitalized on a power play opportunity, tipping a point shot past the blocker of Clippers goaltender Dominik Tmej.

Clayton (73)

Moments later, six-foot-three Clayton added his second power play marker of the period to lift the Kings ahead 3-0. The Justice Studies student made another nice deflection past Tmej.

"Hayden was back after a broken hand. He missed like a month," added Keeper. "This was his second game back. It was a really good job on our power play in front."

With 3.8 seconds remaining in the first period, Wozney (Bachelor of Education Secondary) charged the net and redirected a pass from Longjohn behind Tmej.

The 4-0 edge held until 12:54 of the second period. 

Wozney added his second of the afternoon, beating Tmej high on the glove side and providing the Kings a five goal cushion.

"Wozney is one of the most skilled guys in the league, but he has one of the best – maybe the best – work ethic," said Keeper. "He buzzes like nobody else. It was nice to see him rewarded."

Less than two minutes into the third period, the Clippers broke Kings goaltender Arik Weersink's shutout bid on the power play. Campbell Ens fired one high on the glove side to put Briercrest on the board.

Then on a two-on-one, Longjohn set up Wozney to score his 15th goal of the season and complete the hat trick. Over 23 regular season games, Wozney recorded 30 points. 

"I have to give it to Chance. He was feeding me the puck," noted Wozney. "That last goal, I just knew that he was going to pass it to me. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that I wasn't putting that one in."

While Wozney has been an offensive force for the Kings, it was his first three goal game in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC).

"He's had quite a few games with two goals," said Longjohn of his linemate Wozney. "He's a leader and it's good to see him get a hat trick in his final [regular season] game."

Ens received the Player of the Game recognition for the Clippers.

The Kings went two-for-seven on the power play. The Clippers converted once on four attempts with the extra skater. 

Weersink had a solid game, making 21 saves in the Kings' net (0.955). Tmej turned aside 27 shots (0.818).

The top six teams in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Men's Hockey will qualify for the postseason with the Clippers (17-7) and Kings (15-9) receiving byes to the semi-finals.

The Kings are grateful for the extra rest until the second round.

"It's huge for us. We are short bodies," added Longjohn. "We are pretty beat up, so for us to get a bye is big. We need that time to rest up."