Queens score seven in Medicine Hat, Clayton scores game-winner for the Kings
Medicine Hat and Red Deer, October 28, 2023 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Kings and Queens finished their weekend on a high with two victories. The Kings defeated the Portage College Voyageurs 3-2 in a very physical game with the Queens outscoring the Rattlers 7-1.
See below for more information regarding each game.
Women's Hockey – Medicine Hat College Rattlers 1 at Queens 7
After a goal was disallowed in the last second of the first 20 minutes, forward Victoria Longley (Open Studies) would open the scoring in the early stages of the second period as she went from her forehand to her backhand to finish it over the glove of the Rattlers goaltender. Longley scored her first goal in the ACAC last night.
Moments later on the powerplay, Defence Brooke Skrypichayko (Bachelor of Education) fired it on net and forward Avery Lajeunesse (Bachelor of Education) managed to deflect it past the Rattlers goaltender to put the Queens up 2-0.
The goals just kept coming for RDP in the second period. As defense Kaedence Mollin (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) drove down the boards into the offensive zone, she passed it over to forward Rylee Mepham, who would one-time it home for the Queens third goal of the period.
But with under five minutes to go, the Rattlers would score just their fourth goal of the season.
The Queens would regain their three-goal lead on a five-on-three powerplay off a wrist shot from defence Alesha Santos (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) as she was able to find an open shooting lane from the blue-line.
Forward Hayley Kolosky (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) added her third goal of the season while she was on her knees looking for the free puck in a scramble in front of the Rattlers net.
The Queens added two goals in the third to finish the two-game sweep of the Rattlers this weekend with a final score of 7-1.
Forward Alli Soyko (Bachelor of Education) was awarded the player of the game for the Queens.
The Queens will be back in action next week as they host the NAIT Ooks in Red Deer. The puck drop at 7 pm.
Men's Hockey – Portage College Voyageurs 2 at Kings 3
After scoring seven consecutive goals last night, the Kings would extend that streak into the afternoon game against the Voyageurs. Defenceman Brennan Davis (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) was able to fire a shot from the point through traffic past goaltender Alex Brousseau (Fine Arts) for the Kings first goal of the game.
After the first, the Kings outshot the Voyageurs 12-8.
The Voyageurs would find the equalizer just over five minutes into the second period. Forward Mikal Chalifoux (Academic Foundations) attempted a wrap-around but was stopped by goaltender Evan Fradette (Bachelor of Education), who is making his first start of the season. Fradette could not corral the rebound and Chalifoux would pick up his own rebound and chip it into the top corner on the block side of the Kings goaltender.
In the late stages of the second period, Brousseau was standing tall in his net as he robbed not one but two Kings players with the pad and the glove to keep the Voyageurs tied at one with the Kings.
But the Kings would add a shorthanded goal with under three minutes left to go in the second period. The Voyageurs goaltender robbed forward Chance Longjohn (Bachelor of Education) on the breakaway but forward Rylan McNinch (Bachelor of Education) was there to put the rebound into the back of the net.
Moments later, after serving his penalty, forward Hayden Clayton (Justice Studies) raced out of the penalty box and fired a wrist shot past Brousseau. Rookie defenceman Kevin Minnoch was awarded the assist after sending Clayton on the breakaway. Claytons goal ended up being the game-winner and he was awarded the Kings player of the game.
At the end of the second period, the shots were in favour of the Kings as they doubled up on Portage College with a total of 32.
Voyageurs forward Xavier Halterman, who was named the player of the game, (Bachelor of Arts) got his team within one of the Kings after he managed to shoot from behind the goal line and bank it off of Fradette's pad into the back of the net.
But that was the closest the visitors would get as the Kings would defeat the Voyageurs 3-2 and sweep the two-game series in Red Deer.
Head Coach Trevor Keeper was quite pleased with his team's play during the weekend series against Portage College.
"We started to play as a team and use our speed which generated a lot of opportunities. When it was 3-1 in a very tight game, I thought our penalty kill did a great job all weekend but specifically today. We battled right to the end."
The Voyageurs will host the SAIT Trojans for a two-game set at home next weekend with the Kings taking on the NAIT Ooks in Edmonton next Friday. In both games, the puck will drop at 7 pm.