Queens lose Game 1 to MRC
Cougars 3 Queens 2
It was a familiar scene for the RDC Queens in the best-of-three Alberta Colleges Women’s Hockey League quarter-finals.
Just like the last two years the Queens find themselves on the verge of elimination against a team finishing lower in the standings.
The Queens, who finished third, dropped a 3-2 decision to the last-place Mount Royal College Cougars at the Arena Thursday and need to win tonight in Calgary to stay alive.
“It’s not the way we’d like it to be, but there’s no panic yet,” said Queens head coach Rob Weddell. “I didn’t think we played all that bad, but missed some opportunities. Plus we need to be better five-on-five. Our only two goals came on the power play and you can’t rely on that every game.”
Queens captain Lindsay Hogg also didn’t feel it was time to throw in the towel.
“Not at all. That’s why it’s a best-of-three. We need to stay positive and get off to a better start tomorrow.”
The Queens didn’t have a great start Thursday, falling behind at 4:17 of the first period when Chelsea McLean scored on a scramble.
“I felt we were a bit nervous and that’s bound to happen as we have a lot of first-year players,” said Hogg. “I thought we picked it up toward the end of the first period.”
Still the Queens didn’t move the puck as well as they would have liked and that came down to communicating, says Hogg.
“It starts with the defence, but the forwards need to communicate as well,” she said. “You can see how much better we play when we’re talking and know were everyone is.”
That lack of communication was a factor on the second Mount Royal goal as the Queens defence turned the puck over deep in their zone and it popped out into the slot to former Red Deer Sutter Fund midget Madison Ouellette, who beat Queens netminder Kaitlyn Chapman.
The Queens did have their chances to get back in the game as they outshot the Cougars 13-9 in the second period and both Megan Abt and Karla Bourke had clear-cut chances against Cougar netminder Sarah Oswald, but couldn’t convert.
Ashley Blacquiere got the Queens on the board with a power play marker at 18:50, tipping in a Janel Lirette point shot.
Neither team was able to put a lot of pressure on their opponent in the third period, but Bourke finally evened the score at 12:51 following a turnover in the MRC zone.
However, McLean came back 67 seconds later on a shot from the left face off circle that caught the corner over Chapman’s glove. It was a goal Chapman obviously wanted back.
“No doubt,” said Weddell. “It wasn’t a bad shot, but I know she doesn’t feel good about it. Still she’s a veteran and will shake it off.”
While the Queens can play better, Weddell gave the Cougars credit as well.
“They’re a much better team than the standings may indicate. Plus they’re a very good forechecking team, which is their strength,” he said. “They dump and chase and force you into mistakes.”
l Queens finished with 27 shots on Oswald while Chapman faced 18 . . . The third game of the series goes Sunday at 12:30 p.m. at the Arena, if necessary.
Contact Danny Rode at drode@reddeeradvocate.com
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