Trojans fall to Vikings after wild third period
CALGARY, ALTA., (Nov. 24, 2018) — A combined six goals were scored in the final period on Saturday night, but the SAIT Trojans would not be the ones victorious when the final whistle blew.
The Trojans trailed by three going into the final period, tied the game in the first 3:26 of the third, went ahead halfway through, and then gave up two in the final 2:19 of play to fall 6-5 to the visiting University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings in their Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) game played at SAIT Arena.
"We're really proud of the effort from our guys in the third period, but it comes down to composure," said Trojans head coach Brent Devost. "Give Augustana credit; they played hard and buried it at the end. They did a great job on their penalty kill when it counted, and sucked us in on some stuff and got us off our game."
The Trojans finish the first half of the season with a 9-5 record through 14 games. Augustana improved to that same mark.
The first semester saw Devost's Trojans beat each team in the league, so he's happy with where his team is at going into the lengthy holiday break.
"As a new coaching staff, it's good for us to get a look at every team in this league, and we have done that now," he said. "From a confidence perspective, the guys can see that we can beat every team in this league if they play the way we want them to play."
In Saturday's game, it was the Trojans who led 1-0 after the first period when Owen LaClare (2nd year, Edam, Sask., Power and Process Operations) scored his seventh of the season.
Augustana roared back in the second, scoring twice in the first 95 seconds of the period to take a 2-1 lead. Travis Mayan scored the first at even-strength, while Jimmy Sheehan scored the second on the power play.
Later in the period, the Vikings received two more from Adam Osczevski and Dillan McCombie to take a commanding 4-1 lead into the second intermission.
The Trojans responded with three quick ones in the first 3:26 of the third period when Dean Allison (4th year, Surrey, BC, Bachelor of Business Administration), Eric Krienke (2nd year, Calgary, Bachelor of Business Administration) and Matt Houston (2nd year, Rosetown, Sask., Business Administration) all tallied.
For Allison, it was his seventh of the year, for Krienke, his 10th and Houston his third.
Krienke potted his league-leading 11th of the year at the 10:21 mark of the third period on the power play to give SAIT the lead back and send the home crowd into a frenzy.
However, the game was far from settled.
With 2:19 left, Augustana's Cody Fiala tied the game.
And with the teams thinking of a possible trip to overtime, the Vikings changed things up and scored the game winner with just 51 seconds left thanks to Ben Lanfermann.
SAIT goalie Payton Lee (2nd year, Cranbrook, BC, Power and Process Operations) stopped 24 shots in the loss.
The Trojans will return to action on Jan. 11 and 12 when they host the Portage College Voyageurs for a pair of home games at SAIT Arena.
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