Hockey Queens defeat the Ooks on the night they recognize graduating players

Brent Forster - RDC

Thursday evening at the NexSource Centre, the RDC Queens hosted the NAIT Ooks in their final regular season home game and special teams played a prominent role. Both teams traded goals on the power play and on the night when the RDC Queens recognized their graduating players, Julia Murrell scored the winning goal in the third period to help seal a 2-1 victory for the home team. Fifth-year student-athletes Cassidy Anderson, Jade Petrie, Julia Murrell and Emily Lougheed played in their final regular season home game and they made a positive impact.

The Queens used the ice in Sylvan Lake to their advantage in the first period. At 13:11, graduating forward Jade Petrie opened the scoring to push the Queens up 1-0. The Legal Assistant diploma student was positioned in the slot and scored high on Tara Bouvette's glove side. Kirsten Baumgardt and Sydnee Decorby earned the assists. Shots were even 8-8 over 20 minutes.

NAIT applied more pressure in the middle frame. At 4:14, Kendra Hansen tied the game 1-1 on the power play. The third-year forward was stationed to the right of the net and completed the passing play that eluded Tracie Kikuchi. The Ooks outshot the Queens 9-6 in the period.

The Queens made the most of their chances in the third period. At 5:21, Julia Murrell scored the go-ahead-goal off a nice setup. Murrell was in front of the net and redirected a precise pass from Kaely McMurtry behind Bouvette. Sydnee Decorby picked up the other assist. Emily Lougheed skated well and created scoring opportunities for the Queens. Graduating defender Cassidy Anderson made several key blocks as the Ooks pressed for the equalizer. Bouvette was pulled with 1:43 remaining for the extra skater but the Ooks couldn't find the back of the net. The Queens earned a 2-1 home victory. NAIT outshot RDC 12-8 in the final period but Kikuchi stood tall. The goaltender from Edmonton stopped 28 out of 29 shots (0.966) over three periods for the victory.

Jade Petrie was named the player-of-the-game for RDC and scored her tenth goal of the season. Tara Bouvette received the honour for NAIT. The goalie from Kamloops turned aside 20 out of 22 shots (0.909).

Queens Hockey Head Coach Kelly Coulter noted the strong performance from Petrie in the game and in her time with RDC. "Jade is a smart player who competes all of the time. In her three years with me here, she's worked hard on her shot. She's scored timely goals because she's gotten that good shot off," said Coulter. "She's a competitor. All four of our graduating players are solid competitors and I hope that our young players see that's what it takes to compete at this level on a consistent basis."

Coulter expressed pride with the team's win. "It was nice to send our graduating players off with a victory," said Coulter. "All of them were outstanding players in their time with the Queens."

While the Queens limited the Ooks to one goal, Coulter would like to see more defensive zone structure. "We had a gritty performance and some timely goals tonight. NAIT is a skilled team and we had to be aware of what was happening on the ice at all times," said Coulter. "We can't panic. We need to put the puck on the wall, reset in the d-zone, stop and find our area rather than chase the puck. Being a young team, some players want to take it upon themselves to be the champion and get the puck out by themselves. We need to be a little more structured and disciplined in the d-zone."

Julia Murrell, the captain of the Queens, fittingly scored the game-winning-goal in her final regular season home game in a Queens uniform. "The whole team was working super hard together. We had two weeks off but we wanted to keep it simple, get our feet moving and put pucks on net," said Murrell. "That's what Kaely McMurtry did. She fed the puck perfectly to me in front of the net. We were doing the simple things tonight and doing them right."

The Early Learning & Childcare diploma student from Edmonton reflected on her time with the RDC Queens. "There are so many good memories. I was fortunate enough to come to the Queens and in my first year here we won the championship, and that was probably one of my best memories I have from my whole hockey career," said Murrell. "Just being part of the Queens and the legacy, and what it means to represent the crown is what all of us value. MacEwan has a great hockey program too but the one here is just more fitting for me. I have my teammates to thank and the other fifth-years and I really had a blast today. We wanted to go out there and have fun, and win our last home game before the playoffs."

In the last game of the regular season, the third place RDC Queens (13-5-5-0) will compete against the first place NAIT Ooks (18-4-1-0) on Saturday, February 17 at 6:00 p.m. in Edmonton. The playoff matchups aren't set at this time although the Red Deer College Queens will face either the NAIT Ooks or the MacEwan University Griffins in the first round.

Graduating Queens

Prior to the opening face-off, the Red Deer College Queens presented Cassidy Anderson, Jade Petrie, Julia Murrell and Emily Lougheed with a Queens jersey and picture commemorating their commitment and dedication to athletic and academic excellence.