Lajeunnesse and Fetch lead Queens to victory over Trojans

Brent Forster - RDC

Red Deer, AB - RDC's Avery Lajeunnesse came up clutch Friday evening against the SAIT Trojans. 

With time expiring, the speedy forward from Red Deer scored the game-winner while shorthanded, providing the Queens a 1-0 victory.

Solid goaltending was on display at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre. Queens netminder Karlee Fetch and Trojans goalie Kaylin Schellenberg were solid in between the pipes and were recognized as the Players-of-the-Game. 

While killing a penalty late in the third period, Queens forward Mary Hirsch tipped a puck ahead to teammate Avery Lajeunnesse. The first-year from Red Deer sped into the SAIT zone alone and beat Schellenberg on the blocker side with only 35 seconds remaining in the game. 

"She's one of our quicker players and she has some finish. I believe that's her seventh goal, so we know that if she gets an opportunity she can put it in the net," said Queens Head Coach Kelly Coulter. "She's a smart kid and it was a pretty elated bench." 

It was also Lajeunnesse's 13th point.

"It was nice to see that Avery was able to put a goal on the blocker side. Schellenberg's glove was very good tonight," said Coulter. "Fortunately, they finally got the message that we wanted to shoot on other areas of the goaltender. She had a really good game tonight for SAIT."

As time ticked down, Schellenberg was pulled for the extra attacker, but Fetch and the Queens held off the six-on-four attack for the home win.

SAIT outshot RDC 27-21 and Fetch earned the shutout.

"Karlee was outstanding for us tonight. Probably say, she won the game for us," said Coulter. "At the end of the game, people were very happy for Karlee because how hard she worked tonight."

Fetch (1), Anderson (9) and Ross (18)

Both teams went zero-for-four on the power play. 

"I think we needed a lot more pressure on the puck. Our practices this week were lackadaisical and I thought our execution on the power play was very poor, but that reflects how we practiced this week," said Coulter. "They have to practice like they play and play like they practice and unfortunately I don't feel like there was a lot of hustle in our game tonight."

On Saturday, the SAIT Trojans (4-14-1-0) will entertain the second place RDC Queens (13-4-2-0) at 7:00 pm in Calgary.