EDMONTON — It didn’t take the RDC Kings long to get back on the winning track.
Twenty-four hours after losing 6-2 to the NAIT Ooks at the Penhold Multiplex the Kings waltzed into the NAIT Arena and came away with a 6-5 victory in Alberta Colleges Men’s Hockey League action Saturday.
“It was a situation on Friday where the last time we were on the ice was Dec. 7 and we were rusty and making a lot of little mistakes,” said Kings head coach Trevor Keeper. “NAIT was on the ice since Dec. 29 and played the U of A twice, so they were ready to play.
“We talked about making some little changes and making sure we were focused on Saturday and it worked out for us,” added Keeper. “It was good in terms that the guys came out of there believing in themselves. It was also good for the three new players (Davis Claffey, Brett Printz and Logan Sceviour). They all contributed.”
In fact Printz scored the Kings third goal, which gave them a 3-2 lead after 20 minutes.
Pat Martens, Mike Marianchuk, Ryley Simpson, Shamus Graham and Jeff Archibald added single goals for the Kings, who led 6-3 after two periods.
Liam Darragh notched his second goal of the game on the power play at 13:12 of the third period to get NAIT back in the game and Kevin Carthy scored with 10 seconds remaining and with the NAIT netminder on the bench. Jordan Wood and Tyler French had the other Ooks goals.
Mike Salmons made 29 saves in goal for the Kings, who had 21 shots on a pair of NAIT netminders.
The win kept the Kings in a second-place tie with the University of Alberta, Augustana, two points back of the SAIT Trojans and one ahead of NAIT.
The Kings return to action Friday at Grant MacEwan, and host GMU Saturday at 7:15 p.m. at Penhold.
Trojans 2 Queens 1
CALGARY — The RDC Queens went into the week six points up on the SAIT Trojans in the battle for the last playoff spot in the ACAC Women’s Hockey League.
They came out of the weekend two points ahead. After losing 1-0 Thursday at the Arena they dropped a 2-1 decision to the Trojans at SAIT Saturday.
It was the same thing as Thursday,” grumbled Queens head coach Bob Rutz.
“We didn’t generate anything until the final eight minutes, then we dominated play. If games were eight minutes long we’d be national champions, but they’re 60 minutes and we have to learn to play a full game.”
Laura Salomons got the Queens lone goal at 12:37 of the third period against SAIT netminder Laticia Castillo, who was credited with 19 saves.
“Their shot totals weren’t close,” said Rutz. “We had way more than that, but we still didn’t score.”
The Trojans were credited with 18 shots on RDC’s Moriah Andrews.
Lynsey Keaton and Hailey Brooks scored for SAIT, both in the second period.
The Queens host Grant MacEwan Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Arena.