Once the RDC Queens erased their anxiety they were off to the races.
The Queens fired three goals in each of the second and third periods Thursday at the Arena and soared past the SAIT Trojans 6-0 in the opening game of a best-of-three Alberta Colleges Women’s Hockey League semifinal.
The RDC squad can advance to the league championship series against either NAIT or Grant MacEwan with a victory tonight in Calgary. A third game, if necessary, will go Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Arena.
The Queens outshot the visitors 15-9 in the opening period but failed to find the back of the net. But Morgan Fraser beat SAIT goaltender Laticia Castillo high to the blocker side at 3:11 of the second stanza and RDC never looked back.
“I think there was a bit of nerves in the first period,” said Queens head coach Kelly Coulter. “The girls started to execute the game plan, wanting to get pucks on net and trying to create scoring chances off of our forecheck and turning over pucks.
“We started getting that going in the second period after the butterflies and nervousness kind of went away.”
Kirsten Brown increased the hosts’ lead at 6:55 of the middle frame — connecting from the high slot — and Jade Petrie scored her first of two goals on the evening just over three minutes later.
Petrie, with a rising shot from 15 feet out, struck again early in the third period and Casey Nicholson and Jessica Anderson rounded out the scoring. Petrie’s linemates combined for five assists, with Ashley Graf picking up three and Emily Swier contributing two.
Jen West turned aside all 26 shots she faced in the RDC net. While she wasn’t overly busy, West made a timely save on Sarah Botter with the game still scoreless in the first minute of the middle period and preserved her shutout with a sliding stop on Cara Daudin in the final minute of the contest.
“We’ve been fortunate all year,” said Coulter. “Both goalies (Alex Frisk included) do the job we need them to do and Jen had a great game tonight.
“We didn’t have the best start but she had a great game and thankfully we were able to get some goals to support her.”
Castillo was replaced in the Trojans goal by Jocelyn Wynnyk following the fourth goal. The SAIT starter stopped 24 of the 28 shots directed her way while Wynnyk blocked six of eight.
Despite his club’s inability to cash in during the first period, Coulter wasn’t overly concerned, citing home-ice expectations as the primary reason for the early nerves.
“I think what we’ve tried to put in place here is we want to approach each game the same in how we prepare and focus,” he said. “With playoffs your execution has to be a little sharper and you have maybe a bit more jump in your step.
“I don’t think we’ve changed how we prepare for any game and I think the girls have learned that from the start of the season to what they’re doing right now.”