The Queens give up three unanswered and fall to the Ooks
Edmonton, January 20, 2023 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Queens Hockey team faced off with the NAIT Ooks for the second time in 12 days. Heading into this game, the two teams were neck and neck at the top of the standings. A win for the Queens meant first place.
As expected with both teams fighting for first place, it was a battle in the opening period which ended in zero goals and quite an impressive battle between the Ooks and the Queens.
After two early penalties by the Ooks, the Queens took advantage of a 5-on-3 powerplay. At the top of the circle, defense Kyla Hansel (Pharmacy Technician Diploma) fired the puck top shelf over top of the Ooks goaltender's glove to open the scoring. This was Hansel's first goal of the year and her fourth point.
A few minutes later, the opposing number four would score to tie the game up at one. After some enduring pressure from her team, forward Jessica Engelbrecht found her way into the slot and wristed one past the Queens goaltender Tanya Disotell-Dunsmore (Bachelor of Science) for their first goal of the game. The Ooks made it two in a row to take their first lead of the game. Forward Halle Graham (Bachelor of Business Administration) was stopped by Distotell-Dunsmore on the first attempt, but Graham was able to score on her second attempt. At the end of the second, the Queens were down by one heading into the third.
The Ooks would open up the third period by scoring with their third straight goal. A shot was fired on the net and Disotell-Dunsmore gave off a rebound right onto the stick of forward Cheyenna Harden (Bachelor of Business Administration), who fired the puck into the back of the net.
Queens Brenna Reid would finally answer back late in the third period to come one goal away from tying it up against the Ooks. Reid shot it from just inside the blueline and through some traffic found its way past NAIT's goaltender.
The final score ended 3-2 for the hometown Ooks and continued to stay atop the ACAC standings.
The Queens player of the game went to third year forward Madison Sansom.
Next Thursday, the Queens will play with their Central Alberta rivals, the Olds College Broncos before returning home on Saturday night. Both games start at 7 pm.