Ooks 3 Kings 0
PENHOLD — Consistency on offence has been the biggest problem for the RDC Kings this season.
That proved t0 be costly once again as the Kings dropped a 3-0 decision to the NAIT Ooks in Alberta Colleges Men’s Hockey League play at the Penhold Regional Multiplex Saturday.
“We had a number of quality chances, the same as last night (a 4-1 loss at NAIT), but didn’t convert,” said Kings head coach Trevor Keeper. “We were even in every statistic in shots, shots from home plate and possession but they have a couple of high end snipers we don’t have.”
One of thsoe is Tanner Dunkle, who notched his league-leading 15 goal of the season 48 seconds into the third period to break the scoreless tie.
The Kings had all kinds of opportunities of their own, but either couldn’t corral a bouncing puck or beat Ooks netminder Brendan Jensen.
“He’s the No. 1 goaltender in the league and has played every game for them,” said Keeper. “We had our chances, but just couldn’t put it past him.”
The Kings spent as much time in the NAIT zone as vice versa and had 10 power play opportunities.
“Our power play has been good of late, but not tonight,” said Keeper. “We had a lot of chances, but so did they as spent a lot of time on the penalty kill as well and ran out of gas a bit.”
Kyle Hehn scored what proved to be a back breaker at 7:11 of the third period when he broke away on a two-on-0ne and beat RDC’s Troy Trombley after dragging the puck around the sprawling RDC defenceman. Cameron Brezinski completed the scoring at 19:27.
The Kings were a bit behind the eight ball going into the series as the Ooks played twice during the Christmas break while RDC didn’t.
“I wasn’t going to ask the guys to come back from all across the west here, as I don’t think that’s right,” said Keeper. “So we were a bit behind and weren’t sharp, but we’ll work over the next couple of weeks and get back at it.”
The Kings don’t return to league play until Jan. 27 at SAIT. They host SAIT Jan. 28.
Both teams finished with 23 shots on goal.
Queens 4 Trojans 3
CALGARY — It didn’t take long for the RDC Queens to get revenge on the SAIT Trojans.
Some 48 hours after losing 3-2 to the Trojans in overtime at the Centrium the Queens visited the Trojans and came away with a 4-3 Alberta Colleges Women’s Hockey League victory Saturday.
Jade Petrie opened the scoring for RDC at 5:11 of the first period before Jessyka Holt tied the game at 10:10 and Karmen Mooney put SAIT ahead with a power play marker at 11:43.
However, Kailey Butz tied the game at 15:01 and Petrie made it 3-2 at 16:19, both on the power play. They were the only two power play chances the Queens had.
Kaely McMurtry, who missed Thursday’s game with a one-game suspension, scored the game winner at 3:36 of the second period.
Karli Reeve made it close with a power play marker at 19:46 of the third period.
Tracie Kikuchi finished with 25 saves for RDC. Emma Greenwood started for the Trojans and allowed three goals on 10 shots over 16:19. Elisha Oswald played the final 43:41 and allowed one goal on 18 shots.
The Queens next action is Jan. 19 at home against NAIT.
Danny Rode is a retired Advocate reporter who can be reached at drode@reddeeradvocfate.com. His work can also be seen at Danny’s blog at rdcathletics.ca