Ice Queens take major hit on back end
One couldn’t blame RDC Queens head coach Rob Weddell if he was a bit dejected.
Not only do the Queens go into the second half of the Alberta Colleges Women’s Hockey League season in last place in the five-team league, but their roster took a hit during the Christmas break.
Weddell lost three of his top first-year players for sure and possibly a fourth, if goaltender Courtney Rea doesn’t pass an exam she’s redoing.
Erin Heinemann of North Battleford, Sask., is one of the biggest losses. The speedy forward was one of the top rookies on the Queens before a concussion sidelined her late in the first half. But Heinemann was expected back in the lineup in the new year.
“She was all set to come back, but some personal things came up at home,” explained Weddell, who also lost forward Skye Fahlman of Medicine Hat and defenceman Teagan Campbell of Winnipeg because of academic reasons.
Campbell’s loss leaves the Queens with only three regular rearguards — Shelly Sushelnisky, Caitlin Couronne and Kim Day — along with converted forward Chelsea Greenbank.
“We’ll be fine with four defencemen as long as we stay healthy,” said Weddell.
If Rea doesn’t return, she’ll definitely be the biggest loss. As of now the Queens have only veteran Kendra Lakeman in goal and will go into their home-and-home series against league-leading Mount Royal this week — Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Arena and Friday in Calgary — with no backup.
“That’s a scary situation,” said Weddell. “There’s just no one we can use. Last year there were eight girls registered at the college we could have called up, but that’s not the case this year. Hopefully Kendra stays healthy and Courtney passes her exam.”
But while the Queens’ roster is a bit depleted, the spirit isn’t according to Weddell.
“We still have a lot of skill and the players are motivated to make a run at the playoffs,” Weddell said. “The team cohesion is still there, it’s a matter of staying healthy and if we have enough depth to do it.”
The Queens sport a 2-10-0 record and are six points back of Grant MacEwan and seven behind SAIT.
Mount Royal comes in with a 13-0-1 record.
“It’s a tough start to the second half, but I’d rather face them now than later,” said Weddell. “If we get some points off them it will give us a good start to the second half. The main thing this half is that we have to take care of business against MacEwan and SAIT.”
While Weddell is battling to ice a healthy lineup, he’s also looking at putting together next year’s team. He attended the Mac’s midget AAA tournament in Calgary where he watched 12 games.
“It’s a bit of a struggle at times as the ACAC isn’t the first choice of the top players, but there’s a number of good prospects interested in RDC,” he said. “Some of them are interested in the University of Alberta as well, but once that’s decided we’ll know more.”
Two of those players are centre Janelle Froehler and goaltender Camille Trautman of the Red Deer Sutter Fund Chiefs.
“We’re definitely interested in the local girls,” said Weddell, who feels they have a good shot at Trautman.
“We understand the U of A is set in goal right now, as is a lot of the CIS teams. We’d love to have Camille for a year or two before she moves on. The same with Janelle. I know she’s interested in the U of A, but if she’s going to be on the fourth line, or not play regularly it would be good for her to play here and play a lot.”
The hockey Queens weren’t the only team to lose talent at the break.
The basketball Queens lost team and league scoring leader Lisa Ivanics because of academic reasons while the basketball Kings saw Stason Golden return home to Windsor, Ont.
However, the hoop Kings won’t be that bad off as they added six-foot-eight Eddy Sanchez and six-foot-four RJ Wells at the break.
Sanchez, from Toronto, played last season while Wells was with the University of Windsor last year. Kings also hope to have six-foot-six Jason Lowe back from a knee injury.
The basketball and volleyball teams return to league play next week. The volleyball squads host Medicine Hat Jan, 14 and 15 while the basketball teams visit NAIT Jan. 14 and Grande Prairie Jan. 15.
drode@reddeeradvocate.com
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