McMurtry and Queens nearly complete rally against Griffins

Brent Forster - RDC with information from Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON, AB – Playing a strong second period to gain a 3-0 lead, the Griffins women's hockey team was forced to buckle their seatbelts and hang on for dear life as the Red Deer College Queens came roaring back within a goal on Saturday night.

"We definitely made it far more tense than we needed to," said MacEwan Head Coach Lindsay McAlpine.

Sandy Heim held the fort with 20 saves as the Griffins improve to 12-3-1-0, atop the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) standings.

Jessie Rampton opened the scoring for MacEwan at 5:56 of the first period. Raven Beazer and Dominique Scheurer, on the power play, provided the home team with 3-0 edge. About midway through the final frame, Kaely McMurtry got her Queens on the board. Mariah McKersie had the lone helper. 

"When that first goal came for them, you could see it building. We gave them a prime scoring opportunity and they capitalized on it. It was (Kaely) McMurtry, who's one of the most dangerous goal scorers in our league," said McAlpine. "From there, we started to panic and didn't play the way we needed to."

On the power play, Kaely McMurtry and Catherine Longchamps set up Camryn Wallan to pull within one, with 5:01 remaining. Queens Head Coach Kelly Coulter pulled Cook for the extra attacker with 1:10 on the clock, but RDC couldn't score the equalizer. 

"The third period we took our foot off the gas, played very complacent, let Red Deer gain some momentum," explained McAlpine.

Miranda Cook made 32 saves for the Queens. 

On Friday, January 18, the third place Red Deer College Queens (5-8-1-0) will host the SAIT Trojans (3-11-0-0) at 7:00 p.m. at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre. 

The Griffins now head into a bye week before returning to action against SAIT on January 25 at 7:00 p.m. at the Downtown Community Arena.