By Sheldon Spackman

Kings hockey team loses semi-final heart-breaker

Mar 11, 2018 | 6:51 AM

The 2017-2018 RDC Kings Hockey season has come to an end following a 4-2 loss to the Grant MacEwan University Griffins in Penhold Saturday night.

The Griffins victory gave them a 2-0 series win in the Best of Three ACAC Men’s Hockey semi-finals and they will now move on to the league final against the NAIT Ooks who won their semi-final series 2-0 over the University of Alberta Augustana Vikings.

The Kings however were first to get on the board this night when Austin Hunter scored at 5:05 of the opening frame to put the home team up 1-0 early in the first period. It was later followed by another Kings goal from Tanner Butler who scored at 10:56 to stretch RDC’s lead to 2-0 after twenty minutes.

In the second period though, the Griffins kept it close when Sean MacTavish scored less than three minutes-in to cut the Kings lead to 2-1. That was followed-up with a late period goal from Grant MacEwan’s Nolan Yaremchuk to tie it back up at 2-2 after forty.

In the third, a Griffins power play resulted in Sean MacTavish scoring his second goal of the night and putting the visitors up 3-2 with 11:37 left to play.

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Then with 1:39 remaining, Kings Head Coach Trevor Keeper pulled goaltender Mike Salmon (playing in his final ACAC hockey game) in hopes of tying it up again and sending the game to overtime but the Griffin’s Ryan Baskerville took advantage, potting an empty-netter at 19:19 to give his team the 4-2 win.

In a release, Coach Keeper says he was proud of his team’s effort.

“It was playoff hockey and a good game – a close game,” said Keeper. “It came down to pulling the goaltender at the end. We had a lot of opportunities on our power play and our penalty kill was very good. They got one power play goal and the other one was a bad bounce where the two d-men got tangled up and that’s the way it goes.”

“It can be one mistake that can give the other team an opportunity,” added Keeper. “We are very proud. The guys did everything that they were asked. They are quick learners, focused and committed. We were really happy with the effort but not the outcome.”

Kings hockey home games will now move from the Penhold Multiplex to the new Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre on the campus of Red Deer College for next season starting this fall.