Queens defeat Trojans 4-3, remain in first

After picking up 1 point Thursday against SAIT, the RDC Queens Hockey team were looking to come away with 2 points Saturday evening in Calgary. Tracie Kikuchi got the start in the Queens net while Emma Greenwood and Elisha Oswald shared time in the Trojans goal. After the RDC Queens opened the scoring, SAIT momentarily pulled ahead until RDC took over and came away with the 4-3 road victory. 

Jade Petrie opened the scoring for the RDC Queens at 5:11 of the first period. Jessica Anderson and Ashley Graf picked up the helpers. SAIT tied the game 1-1 on a goal by Jessyka Holt nearly 5 minutes later. On the power play, Karmen Mooney put the Trojans up 2-1 at 11:43. Kailey Butz of the Queens responded with a power play goal of her own at 15:01 to knot the game up 2-2. The Queens power play connected once again at 16:19 to give them a 3-2 lead. Jade Petrie picked up her second goal of the game after being set up by Rikki Smith and Cassidy Anderson. After 20 minutes of play shots were even 10-10.

At 3:36 into the second period, Kaely McMurtry scored an important insurance goal to give the Queens a 4-2 lead. Keinyn Nordell had the lone assist. The Queens outshot the Trojans 10-7 in the middle frame.

With only 14 seconds remaining in the third period, Karli Reeve scored on the power play to reduce the Queens lead 4-3. Time expired and the RDC Queens picked up the 2 points and the road win. SAIT outshot RDC 11-8 in the final period and each team had a game total of 28 shots.

Queens Head Coach Kelly Coulter thought the student-athletes played well and noticed improvement from Thursday.

"Tonight it was a solid team effort and we executed our game plan much better," said Coulter. "Jade Petrie had a pair of goals for us and played a strong game."

The Queens power play was perfect and went 2-for-2 while the Trojans connected on 2-of-7 opportunities with the extra skater. Emily Swier was chosen as the Queens player-of-the-game. With the victory, the Red Deer College Queens remain in first place in ACAC Women's Hockey with 23 points.

The Queens will host the NAIT Ooks Thursday, Jan. 19 at the ENMAX Centrium at 7:00 p.m. When these teams face-off it often is a close and exciting game.