EDMONTON — For the second time in a little over 24 hours the RDC Kings needed extra time to pull out a victory over the Concordia University College of Alberta Thunder in Alberta Colleges Men’s Hockey League action.
On Friday the Kings edged the Thunder 3-2 in Penhold, then finished off a high-scoring affair Saturday with a 5-4 victory at the Glengarry Arena.
Dustin Lebrun notched the winner at 1:52 of the five-minute extra period, as he brought the puck out of the corner, made a move on netminder Rhys Hadfield and roofed his shot.
“A real nice play from in close,” said Kings head coach Trevor Keeper. “That was the way you had to beat their goaltender. He’s big and covers the bottom of the net and is real tough to beat from the outside.”
The win gave the Kings a 6-2 record and moved them into a tie for first place with the SAIT Trojans, 5-1-0-2, who split a weekend doubleheader with the NAIT Ooks.
The Kings never trailed as Mike Marianchuk opened the scoring at 6:06 of the first period with a shorthanded marker with Jeremy Smith tying the game at 18:42. RDC took a 3-1 lead early in the second frame as Pat Martens and Riley Point connected at 1:28 and 5:01. However, the Thunder got power play markers from Brock Genyk and Chase Fallis and it was 3-3 after 40 minutes.
The Kings once again took the lead in the third period on a goal by Riley Simpson at 6:28, but Smith notched his second of the game at 17:03 against RDC goalie Mike Salmon to force overtime.
“It’s a tough building to play in,” said Keeper. “It’s a little rink with a concrete wall along one side. It takes some getting used to. I can see their team having an advantage because they are used to it.”
Salmon finished with 34 saves for the Kings, who had 45 shots on Hadfield.
The Kings return to action on the weekend as they host Keyano College of Fort McMurray Friday at 7:15 p.m. and Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at the Penhold Regional Multiplex.
Queens 78 Eagles 69
The ACAC Women’s Basketball League season couldn’t have started any better for the RDC Queens.
The Queens put together a strong finishing kick to beat The Kings University College Eagles 78-69 in Edmonton Saturday.
“We were down by five, but put together a kick down the stretch to win,” said Queens head coach Mike Woollard. “It was a strong team effort. We got balanced scoring and we did a good job of taking care of the ball. They used a press all game and we finished with 20 turnovers. That would have been double last year.”
Jessica Foley was named the RDC player of the game, finishing with nine points, seven rebounds and two assists. Desirae Paterson had 17 points and Mozanga Ekwalanga had 10 points and 10 boards.
“We had a good preseason and eventhough we didn’t win much we learned a lot about playing together and you could see that today,” said Woollard. “There was a lot of energy, we executed when we had to and pulled out a big win against a good team. It appears as if we’re going in the right direction.”
Kings 82 Eagles 73
It was a tale of two games for the Kings. They dominated the opening half, leading by 20 before letting down in the third quarter.
“By the start of the fourth quarter we were tied,” grumbled Kings head coach Clayton Pottinger. “But we also ran into foul trouble, which didn’t help either.”
Jacob Cusumano had 18 points, Ashaunti Hogan 17 and Lloyd Strickland 12 for the Kings.
“They were our most consistent players,” said Pottinger.
The RDC teams are on the road again next week as they visit Keyano College in Fort McMurray on Friday and NAIT on Saturday. They open at home Nov. 1 against Olds.
l The Olds women took both of their games against St. Mary’s University of Calgary — 65-40 Friday and 60-43 Saturday— while the men’s lost both games to St. Mary’s — 103-73 and 94-75.