This week in Red Deer Polytechnic Athletics

Lastly, the RDP Royals team will be in Vermilion for their LLC Fall Rodeo which will kick off on Friday and finish on Saturday. Stay tuned to the Canadian Collegiate Rodeo Association website for all the results this weekend.

Please refer to the information below for more details regarding the games, matches and rodeo this weekend.

Volleyball

Queens (0-0) vs Olds College Broncos (0-0)

• • Friday, October 13 | 6 pm in Red Deer

The Queens will kickstart their season this weekend as they look to improve on last year’s bronze medal finish at the ACAC Championship hosted by the Polytechnic.

Their first opponent of the season will be their central Alberta rivals, the Olds College Broncos. The Broncos were one of the final teams that the Queens faced to complete the regular season last year. The Polytechnic managed to defeat Olds College in both matches while only dropping one set.

Head Coach Talbot Walton believes the Broncos will be a threat down the stretch.

“They have a couple of big middle-blockers that are athletic and can hit the ball hard against us. We will have to serve them tough enough so they cannot run those middles. We will have to focus on running our offense as we will have to find more ways to generate more points.”

This will be the only match this weekend for the volleyball team as they get a bye on Saturday. The match will start at 6 pm.

Kings (0-0) vs Olds College Broncos (0-0)

• • Friday, October 13 | 8 pm in Red Deer

Following the end of the Queens match, the Kings will kick off their season as they too will also look to improve on their silver medal finish in last year’s championship final.

The team will be returning many players from last year’s squad but also added a few familiar additions in the likes of setter Tom Wass (Open Studies) and outside-hitter Carter Hills (Bachelor of Kinesiology), who both played for the Kings a couple of years ago.

In their season opener, they will take on the Olds College Broncos who defeated the Polytechnic in their final meeting against each other.

Head Coach Aaron Schulha explained the guys are really chomping at the bit to host Olds in our season opener.

“They will be hosting the ACAC Championship in February and we lost to them last year in a five-set thriller. They have the same group of outside hitters as last year who are very dynamic and they will be coming at us with some tough-spin serves.”

The match will start at 8 pm and it will take place in the On the Run Gymnasium in the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre.

Hockey

Queens (2-0) vs Lakeland College Rustlers (1-1)

• • Friday, October 13 | 7 pm in Lloydminster

• • Saturday, October 14 | 7 pm in Red Deer

The Queens will be looking to stay undefeated as they battle with the Lakeland College Rustlers for the second weekend in a row. These two games will be the final meeting against each other in 2023. The Polytechnic is coming off a 4-2 victory against the Rustlers. Defence Jessica Bouffard (Business Diploma) earned two points in the victory and was named the play of the game.

But a win against the Rustlers will not be easy, especially in their home arena as Head Coach Kelly Coulter explained, Lakeland College is a team that will push their opponents for 60 solid minutes.

After suffering defeat in their season opener, the Rustlers bounced with a win against the Olds College Broncos and now sit with a .500 record. The Queens will be away in Lloydminster on Friday night but will be back on home ice on Saturday at 7 pm.

Kings (0-0) vs University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings (0-0)

• • Friday, October 13 | 7 pm in Red Deer

• • Saturday, October 14 | 6 pm in Camrose

Kings regular season hockey is back in Red Deer for the first time since winning the ACAC Championship on home ice last March.

Like last season, the Polytechnic will host the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings to town for their season and home opener.

In their four-game season series last year, the two teams ended with a 2-2 record but the Kings slightly outscored the Vikings 17-14.

Head Coach Trevor Keeper said it is going to be a tough battle with the Vikings.

“We played them in the pre-season. They are a skilled, fast, hard-working, physical team so the game got a little chippy. I have always preached to the guys that I do not want them to control their emotions. We want emotional players. However, I do want them to control their reactions to the emotional part of the game which I do not think we did very well in that game against Vikings.”

Keeper added the Kings will have to bring their skill, energy and emotion but control their reactions so that Red Deer can play with the man-advantage which is one of their strong attributes.

The game will start at 7 pm before heading off to Camrose for a rematch against the Vikings on Saturday which can be livestreamed on ACACTV.

Soccer

Queens (4-4-1) vs SAIT Trojans (8-1)

• • Saturday, October 14 | 12 pm in Red Deer

Queens (4-4-1) vs Olds College Broncos (3-6)

• • Sunday, October 15 | 12 pm in Olds

The Queens will be playing in their final match on home soil this season as they welcome the SAIT Trojans. The women are coming off a tough weekend picking up just one point in a tie against the Medicine Hat College Rattlers before falling to the Lethbridge College Kodiaks on Sunday. Despite these results, the Queens still find them hanging on to the final playoff spot in the ACAC South Division with just three games to go.

The Trojans are sitting in second place with an 8-1 record. The last time the Queens played SAIT, the Trojans came out on top with a 4-1. The goal scored by striker Grace Smith (Bachelor of Business Administration) happens to be only the fourth goal allowed by the Calgary team as SAIT has outscored their opponents 64-4. Fifteen of these goals have come from striker Meaghan Wiebe, who leads the league in goals, points and shots. She is also in second place in assists with 10 helpers.

At the end of this match, the Queens will recognize four student-athletes, midfielder Sofia Quinteros (Practical Nurse Diploma), goalkeeper Abby Kotyk (Bachelor of Kinesiology), centreback Kayla Yeo (Open Studies) and midfielder Erica Navarro (Bachelor of Science in Nursing), as they leave the program at the end of the school year.

On Sunday, the Queens will head down to Olds to battle with the Broncos. Both matches this weekend will start at 12 pm.

Kings (3-3-1) vs SAIT Trojans (7-0)

• • Saturday, October 14 | 2 pm in Red Deer

Kings (3-3-1) vs Olds College Broncos (2-4-2)

• • Sunday, October 15 | 2 pm in Olds

The Kings are coming into this weekend on somewhat of a high after winning back-to-back games including a shutout victory against the Lethbridge College Kodiaks, who sit in second place in the South Division. With these two wins, the Polytechnic has increased their chances of making playoffs.

But their first match of the weekend will be tough as they face the SAIT Trojans who are sitting in first place in the division. The Trojans are also ranked number two in the rankings, according to the latest Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) that came out this morning.

The last time these two teams met, the Kings came out flat-footed and the score showed as the Trojans won 7-1. The goal scored by midfielder Ajdin Sarcevic happens to be the only goal allowed by SAIT all season.

Following the end of this match, the Kings will also recognize their graduating student-athletes, striker Grant Johnson (Legal Assistant), defender Jonatan Hernandez (Bachelor of Arts in Political Science), goalkeeper Garrett Thompson (Bachelor of Kinesiology) and striker Jaeden Swartz (Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences.)

The Kings will play their second last match of the season the following day as they head down to Olds for a clash of Central Alberta post-secondary schools.

Kings and Queens Cross-Country

• • Saturday, October 14 hosted by University of Alberta-Augustana

With the leaves turning and the weather turning, the Cross-Country season is nearing the end. This weekend will be the final Running Room Grand Prix of the year. The Kings and Queens will head to Camrose on Saturday to run as they look to head into the ACAC Championship on a high.

The Queens have cleaned house on the Grand Prix circuit with three first-place finishes and will look for the sweep this weekend as they prepare themselves for the championship on October 28. The team has been led by Justine Larson (Bachelor of Education) who has been a consistent top-five finisher.

On the men’s side, the Kings have finished in first place in two out of the three races so far. In their last race, they ran into a very strong SAIT Trojans squad who swept the podium. This was the first race the Trojans had a full team. But nonetheless, the Polytechnic finished in second place. The team has been led by Ben House (Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences), but Jordan Coen (Open Studies) has improved on his previous time in each race and will be a runner to watch in the coming weeks.

The Queens 6 km race will start at 12 with the Kings 8 km run following the conclusion of the women’s race on October 14.

by RDP Athletics

This week in Red Deer Polytechnic Athletics

What's Trending