The RDP Kings are final bound as they defeat the CUE Thunder

Red Deer, March 12, 2023 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Kings are off to the finals after defeating the Concordia University Thunder in the rubber game of the three-game series.

It's do-or-die for the Thunder and the Kings as a win will send one to the finals and a loss will knock the other team out of the playoffs.

For the first time in the series, the Kings were able to score but it did take some time with the opening goal coming halfway through the first on the powerplay. Captain Chance Longjohn (Bachelor of Education) looked like he was going to attempt a wrap around but instead, he passed the puck out front to forward Hayden Clayton (Open Studies) who put it into the wide open net.

With under five minutes to go, the Polytechnic extended their lead to two on yet another powerplay goal. Forward Jacob Kendall (Bachelor of Education) skated down the board off the blueline into the high slot and would chip it past goaltender Eric Ward (Open Studies) for their second goal of the game.

The Kings dominated the shot stat as they had a total of 18 compared to the visitors six after the first period.

The goals kept coming for the home team as they opened up the game with their third goal in the fifth minute of the second period. Forward Nolan Doell (Bachelor of Education) skated down the boards into the Thunders zone and would pass the puck to forward Holden Knights (Bachelor of Education) who was in front of the net. Knights would spin around and score with his backhand for his team's third goal of the game.

The Thunder finally got on the board after Weersink kicked out a rebound right onto the stick of forward Zachery Carlson (Bachelor of Arts), who made no mistake putting it into the back of the net.

Forward Edge Lambert (Open Studies) would score his team's second consecutive goal on the powerplay but it did not come easy as he had to work for it in front of the Kings goaltender and finally was able to find the back of the net.

After going down 3-0, the Thunder would answer back with three straight of their own as forward Grayson Reid (Bachelor of Science) capitalized on a bad giveaway by the Kings defense and caught goaltender Arik Weersink (Bachelor of Business Administration) off guard.

The second period was dominated by the Thunder as they outshot the Kings 17-11 in the period but still were behind the Kings in the total shots category.

After killing off a double-minor penalty, the Kings scored to regain their lead with a goal from Longjohn as he came off the boards behind the net, toe dragged around his defender and back-handed the puck over Ward's pad for his team's fourth goal of the game.

Down by a goal with under a minute to play, the Thunder pulled the goaltender and Kings forward Ryland McNinch (Bachelor of Education) took this opportunity to score his first goal of the playoffs to clinch the series win with a 5-3 victory.

Thunder forward Edge Lambert and Kings forward Chance Longjohn were named the players of the game.

The final will be a best-of-five-game series that will start this Friday evening in Red Deer, where the NAIT Ooks are already waiting for the Polytechnic as they won the series against the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings in two games in the other semi-final.