RDP Queens defeat NAIT Ooks at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre

Red Deer, AB - The Red Deer Polytechnic Queens Hockey team displayed a balanced attack against the NAIT Ooks Friday evening. 

The RDP Queens received goals from four different student-athletes and limited the visitors to a single marker in a 4-1 victory at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre.

Queens third-year defender Brooke Skrypichayko opened the scoring at 8:39 of the first period. The Bachelor of Education Elementary student's shot from the point deflected off an Ooks player in front and eluded NAIT's netminder Aurora Van Wormer (Open Studies). 

NAIT's Tayler Premak (Biological Sciences) evened the contest less than six minutes later. The third-year forward was stationed to the left of Queens goaltender Izzy Palumbo and found space high on the short side.

Only 35 seconds into the middle stanza, Queens captain Avery Lajeunesse scored her 10th goal of the season to give the home team a 2-1 edge.

The RDP Queens went up by a pair of goals nine minutes later. First-year Hayley Kolosky (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) picked up a loose puck in front of Van Wormer and shoveled it into the net.

The Queens' 3-1 held until late in the third period. With Van Wormer pulled for the extra skater, Queens' Julie Wagner hit the empty net at 18:35 of the final frame, sealing a 4-1 home victory.

Skrypichayko was named the North Star Sports Queens Player of the Game. Premak received the recognition for the NAIT Ooks.

Neither power play could click on three attempts

The second place Red Deer Polytechnic Queens (18-5) will play the third seed NAIT Ooks (16-6) in Edmonton on Saturday at 6 pm.

Both the Queens and Ooks have already qualified for the postseason.