Nolan Doell scores a hat trick in Kings victory, Queens defeat Rustlers in a shootout
Red Deer and Camrose, January 12, 2024 – It was a goal frenzy for forward Nolan Doell and the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings as they defeated the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings 8-4 on Friday night.
In women's hockey, forward Victoria Longley sparked a third-period comeback which led to a shootout victory for the Queens over the Lakeland College Rustlers.
See below for more information regarding each game.
Queens Hockey – Lakeland College Rustlers 2 at Queens 3
After the first 20 minutes of play in both team's first game back after the Christmas break, the Rustlers outshot the Queens 15-5.
After being outshot in the first period, the Queens held the Rustlers to just one shot in the first 10 minutes of the middle frame. But on the team's second shot of the period, forward Brooklyn Salewski (Crop Technology) managed to wrist the puck top corner from a tough angle past goaltender Izzy Palumbo (Bachelor of Commerce) to take the first lead of the hockey game. Salewski was later named the Rustlers of the game.
With under five minutes left to play in the second period, forward Belle Smith (University Transfer) extended the Rustlers lead as she deflected a shot past the Queens goaltender.
Lakeland College continued to outshoot RDP as they went into the third period holding a 25-12 lead in shots.
The Queens cut the Rustlers lead just under six minutes into the third period with forward Victoria Longley (Open Studies) deflecting home a pass from her linemate Camryn Ward (Bachelor of Kinesiology). Longley was later named the Queens player of the game.
With under two minutes to play in the third, forward Avery Lajeunesse played hero as she made a nice move in front of the net and backhanded it over the Rustlers goaltender to tie the game up to send it to overtime.
Head Coach Kelly Coulter explained tonight was a great example of adversity shown by the Queens.
"The message in the locker room after the second period was that the team needed to tighten up in our defensive zone and be more aggressive hunting pucks which is exactly what they did and it paid off. But they had to battle through a very tough overtime that saw us kill off a two-minute penalty with Izzy Palumbo standing tall in net for us tonight."
Four-on-four and three-on-three solved nothing which meant this game was heading to a shootout where the Queens finished the comeback to start the second half of the season with a huge win over the Rustlers.
The Rustlers and the Queens will be back at it tomorrow night in Lloydminster for the second game of this doubleheader. The puck will drop just after 7 pm.
Kings Hockey – Kings 8 at University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings 4
Augustana opened the scoring in the first period but in the middle frame, the Kings answered back with two goals of their own to take their first lead of the hockey game. The tying goal was scored by forward Erik Miller (Bachelor of Business Administration). Following a shot from captain Chance Longjohn (Bachelor of Education) in the slot, Miller jumped on a free puck in the high-chance area and fired it home to tie the game up at one.
Moments later on a breakaway that featured two Kings all alone versus the Vikings goaltender, forward Nolan Doell (Bachelor of Education) finished off the beautiful passing sequence in the back of the net with forward Holden Knights (Business Certificate) picking up the primary assist on the goal.
The Vikings battled back and were able to find the equalizer minutes after the Kings took their first lead in the hockey game.
But the goals kept coming for the Polytechnic as they scored two more before the period ended with both forward Jacob Wozney (Bachelor of Education) and Doell finding the back of the net. Doell's second of the game came seconds after Wozney regained the lead for the Kings.
Longjohn would make it a five-goal period for the Kings with Miller setting up the captain on the breakaway.
Forward Ryland McNinch (Bachelor of Education) would make it four unanswered goals for the visitors and the Kings would take a 6-2 lead into the third period.
Following a period that saw two goals scored for both sides, the Kings walked away with an 8-4 victory. Doell earned himself a hat trick with a goal in the third period while his teammate Sean Michalevich scored his second goal of the season.
Red Deer Polytechnic's player of the game was awarded to Nolan Doell for his three-goal performance in the victory.
These two teams will face off in the final game of their four-game season series tomorrow night in Red Deer at 7 pm.