Kikuchi stops thirty-four shots, but Griffins pick up home win

Brent Forster - RDC

After an exciting game on Thursday evening in Red Deer, the venue shifted to Edmonton in a rematch as the MacEwan University Griffins hosted the Red Deer College Queens on Friday. These two teams are often involved in close contests, and Friday was no different. The Griffins scored in the first period, added another goal in the third and pulled out a 2-0 home win.

Tracie Kikuchi started for the RDC Queens in goal while Natalie Bender got the nod for the Griffins. 

Jill MacWilliam opened the scoring for MacEwan University in the first period. Kikuchi has been excellent for the RDC Queens this season, and once again, the Kinesiology & Sport Studies student gave the Queens a chance to win. Kikuchi turned aside 14 shots in the opening frame while Bender stopped 9 from the Queens.

Both goaltenders were unbeatable in the middle frame. Kikuchi halted all 14 Griffins' attempts while Bender saved 2 RDC shots.

At 4:05 into the third period, Shyla Jans gave the MacEwan University Griffins a 2-0 edge. The RDC Queens upped their intensity in the final period in hopes of finding the back of the net. With 1:40 remaining in the third period, Kelly Coulter, head coach of the Queens, pulled Kikuchi for the extra skater. Despite outshooting the Griffins 10-7, the Queens couldn't get a puck behind Bender and the MacEwan University Griffins won 2-0 on home ice. Over 60 minutes, the Griffins outshot the Queens 36-21. Kikuchi was outstanding and stopped 34 out of 36 shots.

Coulter was appreciative of Kikuchi's performance and liked aspects of the special teams. "Tracie had another great game in net for us," said Coulter. "Once again, our penalty killers were excellent tonight, but offensively we didn't generate enough chances."

Kikuchi was deservedly named the Queens player-of-the-game while Jill MacWilliam received the honour for the Griffins. With the win, the Griffins have 5 wins and 1 overtime loss, and move into top spot in ACAC Women's Hockey with 11 points.

The Red Deer College Queens (10 points) sit in second spot and will face-off against the NAIT Ooks (6 points) on Thursday, November 2 at 7:00 p.m. at the NexSource Centre in Sylvan Lake.