A spirited response to a heavy first-period deficit still left the Portage College men's hockey team empty-handed with a game left in its season.
A spirited response to a heavy first-period deficit still left the Portage College men's hockey team empty-handed with a game left in its season.
The Voyageurs scored two short-handed goals Friday in a 7-4 loss to Red Deer College Kings that saw them concede four unanswered markers in the first period. They trail playoff rivals Concordia University College of Alberta by two points with one game and one playoff spot left in the ACAC regular season schedule.
>The first period was disastrous for the Voyageurs, conceding four goals despite outshooting the Kings 14-13. Voyageurs head coach Jim Knight said the team got poor puck luck on the evening, saying the team got about six or seven chances that came to nothing, while Red Deer got goals from multiple deflections.
The Voyageurs made a better defensive effort in the second, with Kyle Threndyle coming up big with a pokecheck and Halcrow managing to recover quickly in a sequence three minutes in where he was caught behind the net, but got in goal in time to make the save.
Jory Geddes opened the account for Portage five minutes into the second period with a short-handed goal, but Red Deer replied immediately to make it 5-1, which Knight used to highlight the team's poor puck luck.
"I talked to Kirby [Halcrow, goaltender] after the second period," Knight said. "It went off [Justin] Cote's pants. That's the kind of luck we're getting."
Voyageurs captain Dustin Popowitch scored with eight minutes left in the period, which fired up the offense. Cody Giroux drifted between the hashmarks and got a wrist shot over the stick side of Red Deer goalie Kraymer Barnstable to make it 5-3.
Portage forward Jay Young scored another shorthanded goal in the third period to get within one, but that's as close as the team would get. Red Deer scored a power-play goal and got an empty-netter before the end of the night.
Knight said the failed comeback was disappointing. "Being down 4-0 didn't help," he said. "We just made a couple of bad plays and then we did take a penalty and that was it."
There was a logjam of penalties in the final frame, and Knight said neither he or the other coach could understand the officiating, which he called "horrendous". Young left the game with a slashing penalty and a ten-minute major for unsportsmanlike conduct seven minutes in.
"When both coaches are so confused... something's wrong," he said. "Tonight players were guessing."
Also Friday, Concordia lost 4-2 at home to the University of Alberta-Augustana. To qualify for the playoffs, the Voyageurs will have to beat Red Deer away on Saturday, and hope that Concordia loses. Knight is hopeful.
"Yes, I think we can do it. Yes, I think we can beat them," Knight said. "Tomorrow night we have to take it to 60 minutes.
"There are no second chances after tomorrow."
