The Trojans bounce back with a huge win in Red Deer
Red Deer, January 21, 2022 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Kings Hockey team is coming off a third-period comeback win against the SAIT Trojans in Calgary. After going up 2-1, the Kings surrendered three straight goals and looked out of the game. But with under five minutes to play in the third, RDP answered back with two straight goals in regulation to tie it up and then would win it in overtime to gain some insurance points in the standings. But with a win tonight, the Trojans would sit tied for first place with the Kings as RDP only gained just one point on the Calgary team due to winning in overtime.
After a late penalty by the Kings, the Trojans would open the scoring with a powerplay goal with four minutes left to play in the opening frame on Hockey Day in Canada. Zach Huber, a former forward of the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League (WHL) was able to redirect a shot from his teammate Dylan Clark (Business Administration) past Kings goaltender Evan Fradette (Open Studies) to put his team up 1-0. Red Deer was able to put a puck past Trojans goaltender Boston Bilous (Academic Upgrading), but it was disallowed as it crossed the line after the buzzer went for the end of the period.
Just under two minutes into the second, Huber would score his second powerplay goal of the game to extend their lead to two. Fradette was just a millisecond too late as he dove like a soccer keeper across the net to try and make the highlight reel save but Huber's release was lightning quick.
But the Kings finally answered back with the first even-strength goal of the game. Forward Dylan Esau (Business Diploma) would string a pass from his end to his teammate Erik Miller (Business Administration), who would wrist it past Bilous to cut the Trojans lead in half. At the end of the second, the Trojans still led the Kings 2-1 and outshot their opponent 23-16.
The Trojans would regain their two-goal lead after yet another powerplay and tip-in goal. This time forward Tanner Sidaway (Open Studies) was the goal-scorer for the Trojans as he deflected a point shot from defense Zach Ziegler (Business Administration) to put his team up 3-1. Moments later, the visiting team would extend their lead to three after a two-on-one rush with forward Tye Carriere (Academic Upgrading) sent a pass over to his teammate Brett Trentham (Petroleum Engineering Technology), who was able to steer in their fourth goal of the game.
The Kings would cut the lead in half with under two minutes to play and an empty net. Forward Jacob Kendall entered the zone and sauced a pass over to Miller, who would one touch it to forward Nolan Doell (Bachelor of Education) to complete the tic-tac-toe sequence, which ended in Doell's 5th goal of the year.
But that was not enough as the Trojans bounced back with a 5-2 win after scoring an empty net goal with nine seconds left. Trojans captain McKenzie Welke (Business Administration) was named their player of the game and Jacob Kendall was named the Kings player of the game.
The Kings have two home games next week against the Portage College Voyageurs starting on Friday at 7 pm. The Trojans, they will be playing against their archenemy, the NAIT Ooks, starting in Calgary on Friday evening at 7 pm.