Late flurry leads Trojans to victory

CALGARY, ALTA., (Feb. 8, 2019) — In a rough and tumble affair, the SAIT Trojans men's hockey team emerged victorious.

After a period and a half of back and forth hockey, the Trojans scored five unanswered goals in a 7-3 victory over the visiting Red Deer College Kings in their Friday night Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) contest played inside SAIT's Campus Centre.

"I think we did a really good job of playing on throughout all the adversity, penalties and stuff," said Trojans rearguard Kevin Massy (3^rd year, Victoria, BC, Business Administration), who scored twice in the game. "We just stuck to our game plan and things went our way."

Coming into the game, the teams were tied for second place in the ACAC standings with 28 points. The win moves the now 15-5 Trojans into sole possession of second with 30 points. Red Deer, now 13-6-1-1, falls to fourth, just one point back of the MacEwan Griffins.

Things didn't look promising for SAIT heading into the game, as two of their top three scorers, Eric Krienke (2^nd year, Calgary, Bachelor of Business Administration) and Owen LaClare (2^nd year, Edam, Sask., Power and Process Operations) sat out due to undisclosed injuries.

That didn't stop the Trojans however, as they put a big number on the scoreboard. Helping Massy lead the charge was first-year forward Joren Patenaude (1^st year, Calgary, Bachelor of Business Administration), who finished the game with a goal and two assists.

"The guys stepped up tonight in their absence," Massy explained. "Obviously Patenaude steps up onto the first line and plays a hell of a game. That just speaks to our team and our depth."

After Jackson McKinstry (2^nd year, Calgary, Business Administration) scored the lone goal of the first period to put SAIT up 1-0, the teams combined for seven second-period markers.

Red Deer's Chase Thudium and Lynnden Pastachak gave the Kings a 2-1 lead just 2:55 into the middle frame before Patenaude tied the game up nearly six minutes later.

The Kings took back the lead with just over six minutes left in the period when Ryley Smith beat Trojans goalie Payton Lee (2^nd year, Cranbrook, BC, Power and Process Operations) to make amends for a penalty shot he fanned on moments earlier.

After that, it was all Red and White.

Tyson McCallum (5^th year, Dawson Creek, BC, Bachelor of Business Administration) tipped in a shot from the point by Massy to tie the game, while captain Dean Allison (4^th year, Surrey, BC, Bachelor of Business Administration) scored the game-winner just 40 seconds later from in close.

Massy scored to end the second, and again to start the third for his first goals in 11 games.

"It's nice to get the monkey off the back, but you attribute it to everyone playing hard and chipping in," Massy said. "All four lines had a goal. Everyone did their part."

Zach McNeill (2^nd year, Calgary, Business Administration) iced the win with less than four minutes left.

Lee stopped 31 shots to earn the victory.

The teams will meet up again on Saturday night in Red Deer to close out their weekend set. The first semester saw these teams split their weekend series, so Massy knows his team is in for a tough one back.

"It's a tough race in the standings, but we have a couple of games in hand over them, so any win you can get is big," he said. "They're going to be a better team tomorrow so we need to rest up tonight and get ready for it."