This Week in Red Deer Polytechnic Athletics

Lastly, after making a short road trip to Lloydminster for a 7 p.m. game on Friday, the Queens Hockey team will play host to the Lakeland College Rustlers on Saturday night. This is anticipated to be a very good game as the Rustlers are coming off back-to-back wins against the first-place NAIT Ooks.

Basketball

Queens (10-6) vs Olds College Broncos (7-9)

Friday, February 3 at 6 p.m. at Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre
Saturday, February 4 at 6 p.m. in Olds

As the Queens look to extend their seven-game winning streak, they will be put to the test as they take on the Olds College Broncos, who have looked good this year despite their 7-9 record. The Broncos are in seventh place but just six points separate them and the second-place RDP Queens. It is still a very tight South Division.

Head Coach Avery Harrison said coming into this season, people did not give the Broncos enough credit.

“They got probably two of the best players in the conference in Rio Yamazaki and Makayla Rose. These two players are outstanding, and they are the players we will have to guard well,” said Harrison.

Rose and Yamazaki are sitting in the top four in scoring in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC). The Queens will host the Broncos on Friday night at 6 p.m. before travelling just a few miles south for a Saturday night matchup in Olds.

Kings (9-7) vs Olds College Broncos (3-13)

Friday, February 3 at 8 p.m. at Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre
Saturday, February 4 at 8 p.m. in Olds

The Kings had their winning streak snapped this past weekend after a dying-second three-pointer was made by the SAIT Trojans to give them the win by just one point. The RDP men’s basketball will look to shake that loss off and go back to their winning ways as they take on Olds College Broncos. The Broncos are coming off a two-game sweep of the Briercrest College Clippers last weekend, but they are struggling to find wins as they sit in seventh place with a 3-13 record. The Kings will play host to the Broncos on Friday night following the Queens game and then travel down to Olds for a rematch at 8 p.m. Some notable statistics from the Kings team are post Jose Mauro sits in first place in field-goal-percentage with 59.4 per cent and second place in rebounds per game with 11.6 per cent, and guard Bernardo Moller (Academic Upgrading) cracked the top five in three-point-percentage with 41.2 per cent.

Hockey

Queens (8-3-1) vs Lakeland College Rustlers (7-3-1)

Friday, February 3 at 7 p.m. in Lloydminster
Saturday, February 4 at 7 p.m. at Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre

After a split weekend with the Olds College Broncos, the Queens cannot afford to come out of the gates slow as they will be taking on the Lakeland College Rustlers, who defeated the NAIT Ooks this past weekend twice. RDP fell to the Broncos 4-2 on Thursday night but capped that off with an impressive seven-goal performance from six different players to walk away with a 7-1 victory.

Head Coach Kelly Coulter said the Rustlers are a heavy-checking team.

“With them, the Queens will have to get pucks deep and grind down in the corners because it is a smaller barn. We will have to try and shut them down in terms of minimizing their chances when they get odd-man rushes as it’s a small zone exit,” said Coulter.

As of today, the Rustlers Hailey Carothers leads the ACAC in points (16) and goals (9) but not far behind her is RDP’s very own Avery Lajeunnesse (Bachelor of Education), who has 11 points and six goals. The Queens will be in Lloydminster on Friday night and then back at home on Saturday night for a 7 p.m. puck drop.

Kings (12-6-1) at Briercrest College Clippers (8-7-1)

Friday, February 3 at 6 p.m.
Saturday, February 4 at 1 p.m.

The Kings will be off on their annual road trip to Caronport, SK as they look to build on a two-win weekend when they take on the Briercrest College Clippers. This past weekend the Kings were finally able to pick up two wins at home in the 2023 year as they came out on all cylinders on Friday night against the Portage College Voyageurs which features four powerplay goals, one hat trick and a short-handed goal. The Saturday afternoon game was much closer going into the third period, but the Kings managed to slip away with a 4-1 victory.

Note the start times as the Kings play at 6 p.m. on Friday night and 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

A few players from the RDP Kings have cracked the top five in different categories in the ACAC. Forward Jacob Kendall (Bachelor of Education) sits in third place in points with 22 and first place in goals with 14. After a hat-trick on Friday night, forward Nolan Doell (Bachelor of Education) cracked the top five in goals as he has eight on the season now. Lastly, goaltender Arik Weersink (Business Administration) sits at the top of the win percentage category with 77.8 per cent of his games ending in a victory.

Volleyball

Queens (8-7) vs Olds College Broncos (0-15)

Friday, February 3 at 6 p.m. in Olds
Saturday, February 4 at 6 p.m. at Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre

The Queens continue to find their form as a relatively young squad. This past weekend was full of ups and downs for the team. They defeated the Trojans 25-11 in the first set on Friday night but would lose the next three. On Saturday night, the Queens started strong in the opening game but had to fight for the second set win. After losing the third set, they were able to pick up the victory in the fourth set to take the match. Heading into this weekend, they are currently sitting in a four-way tie for second place with 16 points.

Head Coach Talbot Walton explained the results have not reflected how the team has been training lately.

“We had a couple of games stretch out to five sets. We have not transferred everything from practice into our competition. Finding those solutions when you have very few returning starters has been difficult at times because right now, we do not have anyone we can rely on. We have to work our way through it and learn the hard ways by doing which sometimes has worked out and sometimes it has not,” said Walton.

The Queens will be in Olds on Friday night and back at home on Saturday night. Both games start at 6 p.m. RDP officials say viewers can stream the Friday game live on ACACTV or at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre on Saturday night for some good volleyball action.

Kings (14-1) vs Olds College Broncos (10-5)

Friday, February 3 at 8 p.m. in Olds
Saturday, February 4 at 8 p.m. at Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre

With a win this weekend, the Kings Volleyball team can secure first place in their division as they have already guaranteed themselves a spot in the championships. One win against the Broncos would mean the second-place Lethbridge College Kodiaks (12-4) and the rest of the conference could not catch up to the 14-1 record that the Kings currently possess. However, it will not be easy; the Broncos are riding a five-match winning streak and look like a whole new team after starting the year 0-3.

Head Coach Aaron Schulha said the Broncos are a good team and they are well-coached.

“The bulk of their team has stayed together for the last three years so they know what they are doing. They had a bit of a slide early on but have come on hot lately which is what happened last year as well. The team feature’s a couple of high-volume left-side hitters and they are pretty explosive.”

The Kings will head 40 minutes south on Friday to Olds for the first match and then they will be back at home on Saturday night. Both games will start following the end of the Queens matches.

by rdnewsNOW Staff

This Week in Red Deer Polytechnic Athletics

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