Ooks 4 Queens 3
There was a time not that long ago that when the RDC Queens trailed heading into the third period, they would hang their heads and the game was over.
That’s not the case this season, which was evident in a 4-3 loss to the NAIT Ooks at the Arena Thursday.
The Queens gave up three straight power play goals in the second period to fall behind 4-1.
But the Queens outshot the Ooks 17-4 in the third period, scoring twice in the final five minutes, and coming within a whisker of tying the game with goaltender Toni Ross on the bench in favour of an extra attacker.
“A good third period, and even pulling the goaltender we continued to fight to come from behind,” said Queens head coach Trevor Keeper.
“We talked to the girls about having the ability to fight back from a deficit and it showed a lot of character. We addressed our problems in the second period when we didn’t box out and left to many rebounds.
“We gave up the three power play goals, which is rare for us, and that’s a learning experience.
“We’re certainly happy about what they did in the third period to make a game of it.”
Queens fifth-year captain Megan Abt was one of those leaders.
“It was extremely important to come back like that,” she said. ‘We’re a young team and we have to learn to play a full game. We kept giving it and showed some diversity and got some pucks in the net.”
Abt expected to be named captain this season.
“It is my fifth year,” said the Bentley native, who has a heavy work load in the nursing program, but wasn’t about to let that stop her from playing her final season with the Queens.
“I couldn’t see myself not playing,” she said.
“I missed a couple practices, but I haven’t had much conflict as the teachers have been great and I have a good schedule.”
The Queens trailed 1-0 after the first period on a goal by Danielle Brown, but Jayna Kitchen tipped in a Natasha Steblin point shot at 7:53 of the second period to tie the score. However, Nicole Gregoire, Brown and Gabrielle Pelland all connected on the power play for NAIT before the end of the frame.
Ross would have liked at least two of the three goals back, but she didn’t let it bother her in the third period. She only had four shots, but made a couple solid saves.
“She was down a bit early on, but again when it came to rebounds we didn’t help her and box out,” said Keeper.
Angie Hodgson connected for RDC at 14:55 of the third period with Gillian Altheim slamming home a rebound at 19:23.
Abt stressed those two goals will only do the team good down the road.
“We’re young (with five veterans and 18 first-year players) and we’ll learn from this,” she said.
“We need to stay positive and believe in each other. That’s the important thing.”
The Queens finished with 35 shots on Krysten Pattison while Ross faced 22.
The teams meet today at NAIT.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com