With playoffs right around the corner, the Red Deer Polytechnic Queens capped off the regular season with a win.
On Friday night at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre the Queens shined with a 3-1 win over their rival Olds College Broncos.
Head coach Kelly Coulter said on Friday they were strong on their forecheck to force turnovers.
“Tonight I thought we did a better job of that for a full 60 minutes. On Thursday I thought we had a bit of a lag in the second period. I think it was a lesson learned so I’m much happier with the outcome tonight,” he said.
Forward Natalie Buttle scored twice and Alesha Santos added one of her own for the Queens. Goaltender Izzy Palumbo was solid in the net making 19 stops for Red Deer.
“All season our goalies have kept us in games and we’re very happy with all three of them. Izzy I thought had a strong game tonight… She did a good job tracking pucks and communicating with her defencemen,” he added.
The Queens also honoured the eight players who will be leaving the program at the end of the season. Those include Madison Sansom, Madison Fox, Kiera Mulder, Alex Black, Natalie Buttle, Haley Kicia, Jordyn McLaughlin, and Brenna Reid.
“I get asked all the time what’s the hardest part and honestly it’s saying goodbye to players you’ve spent a lot of time getting to know,” Coulter said.
“The best part is seeing them flourish and how their life continues on their journey. Seeing them having kids, getting married, and doing well in school.”
Since NAIT won their matchup on Friday the Queens will head into the ACAC playoffs as the number two seed. They will face the Lakeland College Rustlers in the first round of the postseason beginning next Friday, March 10.
“We’re feeling good,” he said. “Finally for the season, it looks like most of our team is healthy which is nice. All through the season we’ve battled injuries and sickness. Any team we play we’re going to prepare for and in this league, it’s a good league so you’ve got to make sure you pay attention to the small details.”
The Olds College Broncos will also be in the playoffs and will go up against the league best NAIT Ooks next Friday.