Sutherland and Queens drop Ooks as special teams take centre stage

Brent Forster - RDC

Red Deer, AB –  It was a battle for second spot Friday evening at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre. The Red Deer Queens and NAIT Ooks entered the contest with identical records and after 60 minutes the Queens came out on top 3-2 with a strong performance.

About midway through the first period, the Queens had a four minute power play and were eventually rewarded. With 15 seconds left with the extra skater, RDC's Sydnee Decorby set up Jenessa Fournier on the right side and the Kinesiology Fitness-Health student beat NAIT goaltender Kaitlyn Slator high on the glove side. It was the Queens' seventh shot of the stanza.

"Our power play, I thought we did a better job of moving the puck rather than skating with it," says Queens Head Coach Kelly Coulter.

Jenessa Fournier (15)

Before the end of the frame, NAIT was given an opportunity on the power play and Brittney Savard capitalized. Ooks' defender Julia Wing took a shot from the point which was blocked in front. Savard, a Business Administration student, corralled the puck and quickly released it on the ice behind Queens netminder Madison Fox for the equalizer.

The contest remained even until 7:34 of the middle frame. A Queens' shot from the outside was blocked by multiple bodies in front of Slator. Sydney Rowley, from Martnesville, Saskatchewan, was well positioned and jammed it home. It was her fourth goal and sixth point of the season. Sibling Brooklyn Rowley and Ashley Sutherland recorded the assists.

Shortly after, the RDC Queens and NAIT Ooks traded power play goals. First RDC's Camryn Wallan beat Slator on the glove side for a 3-1 edge. Then NAIT's Treasure Posch stepped into a shot from the point that found space over Fox's glove.

"Penalty kill, we have to do a little bit better job of protecting the house," says Coulter. "They are a team that has heavy shots and we will have to be aware of that. It's an area that we will have to look at for tomorrow and make some adjustments."

Camryn Wallan (21)

Coulter credited an effective power play to a strong net presence.

"Getting to the net area and creating traffic. Cam's goal and Jen's goal are perfect examples, we had traffic there," explains Coulter. "They had their heads up and shot and did a good job with that."

Still down one goal late in the third, Ooks Head Coach Stef Thomson called a timeout with 1:49 remaining. Slator was eventually pulled for the extra NAIT attacker, but was delayed with the strong forecheck from Jenessa Fournier's line.

"All four lines played well tonight. Jenessa is a third-year player. She's smart. Her, Madison (Sansom) and Mariah (McKersie) can skate really well. They have good size," says Coulter. "They like to play that physical game and all three are generally hungry for the puck. It's nice to see. Madison is really trying hard for that first goal in her ACAC career, but I thought all of them had a really good game tonight." 

Sansom has three assists and is a valuable contributor in her first season with the Queens. 

The RDC Queens earned a 3-2 victory and jumped over the Ooks in the standings. 

"I thought it was a pretty solid 20 person effort, from our goaltender out," says Coulter. "It's the little detail things that we said we got away from against MacEwan and we focused on them this week. It was nice to see that the little things we practiced, they executed. When we do execute, we are successful."

Ashley Sutherland was named the Collegiate Sports Medicine Queens Player-of-the-Game, contributing a pair of assists.

Treasure Posch received the award for the Ooks.

Fox turned aside 15 out of 17 shots. Slator made 20 saves on 23 shots.

Madison Fox (33)

The Queens went two-for-three on the power play. The Ooks responded with two out of four.

On Saturday, Jan. 18, the second place Queens (10-4-1-0) and NAIT Ooks (9-5-1-0) will compete in Edmonton at 6:00 pm in a rematch.