Kings comeback and outshoot the Thunder but drop game one in overtime

Red Deer, March 10, 2023 – Playoff hockey is back for the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings as they look to improve on a tough series loss to the Briercrest College Clippers last year. This year they were able to receive a bye to the semi-finals where they will match up with the Concordia University Thunder after the Edmonton team upset the SAIT Trojans in the first round of the playoffs.

Both goaltenders were tested early with the first three shots of the game being high-quality scoring chances. But it was the Thunder who would open the scoring inside the first two minutes of the first period. Concordia veteran Keegan Tiringer (Bachelor of Arts) would make a couple of moves coming off the boards and would fire home a wrist shot in the high slot past Kings goaltender Arik Weersink (Bachelor of Business Administration) to take the early lead.

With under 10 minutes to play in the first, the Thunder extends their lead on a wrap-around goal from forward Hunter Leslie (Bachelor of Science) as he banks it off of Weersink into the back of the net.

But the Kings would cut Concordia's lead in half with two minutes left to go in the first period. Forward Chance Longjohn (Bachelor of Education) surveyed behind the net before finding an open Jacob Wozney (Bachelor of education) in the slot, where he fired it home to give his team some life in this semi-final matchup.

It was a busy first 20 minutes for both goaltenders with the Kings outshooting the Thunder 18-11.

The only goal in the second period went to the hometown Red Deer Polytechnic Kings as they tied things up at two. It all started out with a beautiful pass from forward Jaxon Steele (Bachelor of Kinesiology) to forward Jacob Kendall (Bachelor of Education), who one-timed it home at point-blank range with three minutes left to go in the second period on the powerplay.

With 0.2 seconds left on the clock, the Kings would take their first lead of the game as they head off the ice and prepare for the third period. After some forechecking from the Polytechnic, defenseman Parker Gavlas (Business Certificate) had the puck on his stick and made the Thunder pay by scoring his first goal of the playoffs and giving his team the lead.

The Thunder would start off the third period the right way with a goal four minutes after a misplayed puck by Weersink ended on the stick of rookie forward Krz Plummer (Open Studies), who wrapped it around and finished it in the back of the net.

Seconds later and just as the announcer was finishing up announcing the third goal, Concordia University would strike again to regain their lead with a goal from forward Isaac Leik (Open Studies) after a beautiful setup by forward Tyler Schendel (Bachelor of Management).

With the goalie pulled and the extra attacker, the Kings managed to tie it up at four with just over a minute to go in the third period after forward Chance Longjohn crashed the net and finished a pass from teammate Chase Haygarth (Business Administration).

This game would need overtime but the first 10 minutes did not solve anything which meant a full 20 minutes of overtime was going to be needed which is where the Thunder put the nail in the coffin as they would score the game-winning goal to win it 5-4.

The Kings will look to stay alive tomorrow night at 7 pm as they head off on the road to Edmonton for game two of the three-game series.

The player of the game honours went to Edge Lambert (Open Studies) of the Thunder and Reegan Doig (Open Studies) of the Kings. Lambert scored the game-winning goal five minutes into the second overtime period.