Red Deer Polytechnic Queens hockey team celebrate victory over Lakeland College Rustlers on Friday in Red Deer. (RDP Athletics)

By rdnewsNOW Staff

Athletics recap

Red Deer Polytechnic Kings and Queens hockey teams make it to championship finals

Mar 13, 2023 | 12:56 PM

Although it was a quiet weekend inside Red Deer Polytechnic (RDP) Athletics with just five hockey games on the schedule, both Kings and Queens confirmed their spots in their respective finals.

The Queens moved on to the finals after winning back-to-back games against the Lakeland College Rustlers. While the Kings Hockey team needed three games to clinch the series and a berth in the championship final.

Women’s Ice Hockey Semifinals (Best-of-three-game-series)

Queens (14-4-2) vs Lakeland College Rustlers (10-8-2)

• Friday, March 10 at 4:30 p.m. at Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre
• Saturday, March 11 at 7 p.m. in Lloydminster
• Sunday, March 12 at 8 p.m. at Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre (If necessary)

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The women’s hockey team will be moving on to the finals for the second year in a row after defeating the Lakeland College Rustlers in two straight games to take the series 2-0. It was a low-scoring series with just seven goals scored between the Rustlers and the Queens.

The first game took place on Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. with the Queens taking the game 2-1. The goals were scored by forward Natalie Buttle (Bachelor of Kinesiology) and forward Madison Sansom (Social Work). Forward Alli Soyko was named the player of the game as she had two assists on the night.

RDP Queens hockey player Madison Sansom takes a shot at Lakeland College Rustlers in Red Deer on Friday. (RDP Athletics)

The Polytechnic would head to Lloydminster for the second game of the series and walk away with a 3-1 victory with the goals scored by forward Tasha Barsby (Bachelor of Science) defense Kaedence Mollin (Bachelor of Science in Nursing), forward Jailyn Bablitz (Bachelor of Education). Barsby scored her goal 45 seconds into the game. Due to the technical difficulties with the ACACTV live stream, RDP officials say there was no chance to see who the player of the game was at the end of the 60 minutes.

Now the Queens will prepare for the NAIT Ooks this weekend in the championship final with the first game taking place in Edmonton.

Men’s Ice Hockey Semi-finals (Best-of-three-game-series)

Kings (17-6-1) vs NAIT Ooks (10-7-7)

• Friday, March 10 at 8 p.m. at Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre
• Saturday, March 11 at 7 p.m. in Edmonton
• Sunday, March 12 at 4:30 p.m. at Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre (If necessary)

It was a long first two days for both the Kings and Concordia Thunder as both games needed extra time. The first game did not go as planned with the Kings losing 5-4 in double overtime. But the Kings had to make a comeback in the second period and the third to tie it up and force an extra period. Ultimately, in the second overtime, the Kings would give up the winning goal putting them in a do-or-die situation in Edmonton on Saturday.

RDP Kings hockey player Jacob Kendall scores against the Concordia Thunder on Friday in Red Deer. (RDP Athletics)

This game did not start well for the Polytechnic as they found themselves down 2-0 early. However, RDP Athletics say the Kings showed off their tenacity and battled back which led to them taking a lead for a short amount of time in the third period. The Thunder would answer back moments later to tie it up at four which was the last goal in regulation time. They would need overtime as they were deadlocked at four. The next goal would not come until the third overtime as forward Jacob Wozney would snipe a shot in the high slot to keep his team’s season alive.

They would head back to Red Deer to battle in the rubber match of the series with only one team punching their ticket to the final to face the NAIT Ooks who secured a spot after a sweep of the University of Alberta-Augustana. It started out well for the Polytechnic as they would score three consecutive goals and it looked like the Thunder were out of it early until they answered back with three straight goals of their own to end the second period tied up at three. The third period was all Red Deer as they scored two goals, one of which was an empty netter, to secure a 5-3 victory and move on to the finals which will start on Friday evening at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre. With a multi-point night, the player of the game award was given to forward Chance Longjohn.