Queens blank Broncos 4-0, remain in 1st

Saturday at the ENMAX Centrium, the Red Deer College Queens faced the Olds College Broncos in the 2nd half of the home-and-home series. The Queens have been looking for a more consistent effort on home ice lately and tonight it was a solid performance. Jen West got the start in net for the Queens while Catalina Hartland was in goal for the Broncos. After the Queens scored 1st, they never relented and skated to a 4-0 victory. 

It was a cautious start to the game but with 6:23 remaining in the 1st period Ashley Graf scored on a rebound to put the Queens up 1-0. Breanna Martin and Jade Petrie picked up the assists. 

After 20 minutes, the Queens tested Hartland 10 times. The Broncos had 8 shots on West.

At 14:02 of the 2nd period, Breanna Martin scored a nice goal to give the Queens a 2-0 lead. Martin retrieved her own pass after sending the puck around an Olds College defender. The RDC forward skated in alone on Hartland and fired a hard wrist shot high on the blocker side. With 10:06 left in the middle frame, Cassidy Anderson scored shorthanded low on the stick side to put RDC up 3-0. The Queens continued to apply pressure. At 10:46, Emily Swier stole the puck and beat Hartland high on the glove side.  

In the 2nd period, the Queens peppered Hartland with 22 shots while the Broncos responded with 6.

The Queens applied most of the pressure in the 3rd period but neither team could score. RDC added 15 shots in the 3rd period for a game total of 47. Olds College didn't have a shot in the 3rd period and had a total of 14 shots on West who earned the shutout. 

The RDC Queens were perfect on the penalty kill. The Broncos went 0-for-8 with the extra skater.

Breanna Martin was named the Queens player-of-the-game. The forward from Red Deer skated hard, picked up 2 points but credited the team.

"My teammates have helped me out a lot. Right now I'm playing with a 4th year and a 5th year," said Martin. "They really help me. They whole team has been really supportive."

Prior to her goal, Martin had her spot picked. Only 1-of-47 shots beat Hartland on the glove side.

"Kelly was telling us to shoot anywhere but glove because their goalie has a good glove hand," said Martin. "Cass (Anderson) got her goal on the blocker side too."

Queens Hockey Head Coach Kelly Coulter liked what he saw from Martin tonight but sees an even bigger upside.

"Breanna had a power forward goal. She chipped it around the defence, beat them to the net and had a great shot. That's what I saw with Bre when I watched her play in midget," said Coulter. "It would be great to see that every single night from her. We've tried to address that with her. That's how good she can be. If she can consistently perform at that level, I don't see why she can't move up to the next level of hockey."

With a few injuries on defence, some Queens stepped up in a different role.

"Last game, Kirsten Baumgardt experienced a bit of a whiplash. In the game against MacEwan on Saturday Landry Derdall had someone land on her and we wanted to give her some rest," said Coulter. "Thankfully Keinyn Nordell and Kirsten Brown have played a bit of D and they did a bang up job for us tonight."

Coulter liked the effort and how the student-athletes took care of several details of the game.

"Our goaltender had a shutout going and the players were working hard," said Coulter. "We were much better at blocking shots, being more aggressive on the puck and skating better outs today."

Despite the solid performance overall, the Queens would like to have better starts.

"It is something that we need to address but fortunately Jen West made some big saves in the 1st," said Coulter. "I'm not sure why we come out flat but we have to address it. Playoffs are a quick turnaround."

With the win, the RDC Queens improve to 31 points and keep sole possession of 1st place in ACAC Women's Hockey.

Only 2 games remain in the regular season for the RDC Queens. Thursday, Feb. 9 at the ENMAX Centrium, the Queens host the SAIT Trojans at 7:00 p.m.