The Grant MacEwan Griffins notched five unanswered goals to top the RDC Kings 6-2 in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference play Friday night at the Penhold Multiplex.
RDC was outgunned from the opening puck drop and chased the game, dropping to 4-3 on the ACAC season. Kings head coach Trevor Keeper was not impressed with the effort from his group in the loss.
“We lead the league in shots on goal per game, our power play is tops in the league and our penalty kill is close to 90 per cent, there’s no reason we should show up to play like that at home,” Keeper said.
“We just made them look good. It was an embarrassing effort by most of our team.”
The Kings were heavily outplayed in the first and only registered two shots in the opening ten minutes. Thanks to their power play RDC carried a 1-0 lead after one, when scoring leader Dylan Thudium launched a wrist shot home from the point with just four seconds left in the period. The marker was his sixth of the season.
The Griffins broke through early in the second after Brett Smythe scored on a deflected shot.
GMU took a lead midway through the frame after a bad turnover down low for RDC. The Griffins converted it quickly into a goal to go up 2-1. Griffins forward Taylor Mulder of Lacombe got the tally for his first of the season.
Tyler Morrison and Jacob Schofield scored just one minute and seven seconds apart early in the third to really bury RDC.
Nakehko Lamothe appeared to hit the post on a breakaway late in the game for the Griffins, but the linesmen signalled goal to give GMU a 5-1 advantage.
“Tonight was our worst game of the year in terms of managing the puck, ” Keeper said.
“We had a tough time for some reason going tape-to-tape and entering the offensive zone. A lot of turnovers. Guys standing still when there was a turnover. There were a lot of odd man rushes the other way. Even in the third period when we’re trying to push and come from behind we gave up breakaways.”
Scott Ferguson was the player of the game for RDC and added a goal with only 1:21 left in the contest. Smythe added his second of the night with 18 seconds left on the clock for the Griffins.
RDC was two-for-nine on the man-advantage but still weren’t clicking through most of the night.
“One of our top two units on the power play looked like they’ve never played together before. We addressed it before the game, they were having troubles in practice this week,” Keeper said.
“We put out our third line and they scored a power play goal. It was just one of those games where half your team was going and the other half wasn’t ready to play. They weren’t mentally ready to play. They were always a second behind in their decisions.”
It will be a quick turnaround for the two groups, as RDC travels to Edmonton to take on Grant MacEwan for the second game of a back-to-back.
RDC Queens goal Tracie Kikuchi pitched a shutout in a 1-0 win over the NAIT Ooks in Edmonton Friday night in ACAC Women’s Hockey action.
Cassidy Anderson scored the only goal for RDC early in the third on the power play and Kikuchi stopped all 24 shots she faced for the shutout. It was her second shutout of the season.
With the win, the Queens improved to 5-5 on the year.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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