The Queens finish their season on a high, score two powerplay goals

Red Deer, March 3, 2023 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Queens guaranteed themselves a top-two finish in the conference with a 3-1 victory over the Olds College Broncos on Friday night.

The Queens would suffer a shootout loss last night in Olds which put their chances of finishing first in the conference in jeopardy.

Like last night, the Queens would score within a minute of the puck dropping. After the Polytechnic won the faceoff in the Broncos zone, forward Natalie Buttle (Bachelor of Kinesiology) would skate off the boards into the high slot and fire a wrist shot top shelf over the Olds College goaltender's shoulder to take the early lead. Forward Brenna Reid (Bachelor of Kinesiology) picked up her first assist on the season on the goal. The Polytechnic would control all 20 minutes of the first period as they outshot the Broncos 12-2.

After the second period went goalless in the first 12 minutes, the Queens would capitalize on a major penalty against the Broncos. Through traffic, defense Alesha Santos (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) fired a shot from the blue line and the puck would find its way into the back of the net. Defense Kaedence Mollin (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) and forward Jailyn Bablitz (Bachelor of Education) picked up the assists on the powerplay goal.

The Queens continued to control the pace of the game and only allowed three shots on the net. The home team would make the Broncos goaltender sweat as she stopped 15 of 16 shots in the second period.

The Broncos would cut into the Queens lead halfway through the third. After winning a battle on the boards, forward Jerika Pashniak (Business Management) skated into the high slot and wristed a shot past Queens goaltender Izzy Palumbo (Bachelor of Commerce) to end the shutout bid.

But the Polytechnic would answer back on the powerplay with a goal from Natalie Buttle (Bachelor of Kinesiology) to regain her team's two-goal lead. Mollin would pick up her second assist on the night and defense Kassy Gaudette picked up the secondary assist on the goal.

The Queens would finish their regular season with a 3-1 win. They will await the finish of the NAIT Ooks and Lakeland College Rustlers to figure out their seeding for playoffs.

Broncos goaltender Cienna Kinghorn (Agriculture and Heavy Equipment) and Queens Natalie Buttle would pick up the two player of the game honours.

Kinghorn had an outstanding night in the net as she stopped 34 shots and Buttle had two goals on the night.