By DANNY RODE
Special to the Advocate
Queens 2 Broncos 1
The fact the RDC Queens recorded a 2-1 victory over the Olds Broncos in Alberta Colleges Women’s Hockey League play at the Centrium Thursday was almost secondary.
The win definitely was nice but it had to share the evening with the fact they drew a record crowd of 680 fans and raised over $10,000 for cancer research.
“We’re really excited about this and we want to make it bigger and bigger, as it will happen every year,” said RDC vice-president of Enterprise and Community Relations Michael Donlevy.
“There was a great crowd and we raised over $10,000 for cancer. We want to make it pink in the rink again and again and this is a great venue for it.
“We’re happy with the relationship with the Western Park and in two years from last month the Gary Harris Canada Winter Games Centre will be open and we want to pack the seats there.”
A large number of the fans were from the city and area.
“We really advertised and there was a lot of social media,” said Donlevy. “People wanted to come out for a good cause and they wanted to see women’s hockey in a great venue.”
Queens head coach Kelly Coulter liked what he saw from his players but was equally pleased with the crowd and way the fans responded to thelp reach the goal of $10,000. The event raised over $5,000 with Scotiabank matching the total up to $5,000.
“We were all pleased with the support from the Athletics Department, the Westerner, the city and the college,” Coulter said. “We were excited to see the number of fans and they did a great job of raising money for cancer research. At the end of the day that’s one of the goals of the game, not just to win, but to raise funds for a great cause … overall it was a very successful event.”
As for the game, the Queens, who have struggled to find their scoring early in the season, got a goal from second-year forward Morgan Fraser with 4:21 remaining in the third period to give the Queens their first victory in three starts.
Fraser took a perfect pass from Jessica Anderson on a two-on-one and rifled a perfect shot high to the glove side of Olds netminder Nikki Grandinelli.
“It was a nice pass,” said Fraser. “It made it easy for me to wait the extra second for her to move and I was able to put it up top.”
Fraser for one was excited to see a larger than normal crowd.
“It was exciting and made it more upbeat. I think we wanted to show what we can do.”
The Queens dominated the game, outshooting the Broncos 34-11.
Winger Breanna Martin, who is in her first season after graduating from the Red Deer Sutter Fund Chiefs, opened the scoring at 16:27 of the first period, when she stole the puck at the Olds blueline and scored on her backhand.
“She has great hands … she’s a first-year player who knows what to do,” said Fraser.
“When she has the time and space she will score, just like Morgan,” said Coulter. “Both of them also have size and are great kids on the dressing room.”
Hanna Matchett tied the game for the Broncos at4:13 of the third period, on a goal that netminder Alex Frisk would love to have back. She didn’t seem to see the long shot that hit her right arm and deflected in.
“It’s one of those situations where a goalie gets cold,” said Coulter. “I’ll have to look at the video, but it’s hard to stay focused when you’re not having much action. Still I’m sure she would like it back.”
But the Queens didn’t let down. In fact picked up their pace after the goal. Still they had problems getting past a tough Olds defence.
“They have a lot of size, defend well, collapse well and are good shot blockers,” said Coulter.
“We need to do a better job of getting shots through and crashing the net,” said Fraser. “But it will come.”
The teams, who are both 1-2-0 on the season, meet again Saturday at 7 p.m. in Olds. The Queens next home game is Nov. 2 against MacEwan University.
Danny Rode is a retired Advocate reporter who can be reached at drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com. His work can also be seen at Danny’s blog at rdcathlegics.ca