Defensive Queens shut out Griffins

Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics

They came for a hockey game and a soccer match broke out at the Downtown Community Arena.

Unfortunately for the MacEwan Griffins, they were unable to break through a tough Red Deer defence and lost 2-0 on Saturday night.

"Red Deer's always kind of been known for the strength of their back end," said Griffins head coach Lindsay McAlpine. "Tonight and on Wednesday, they really shut us down on the offence. They play bigger than they are. They're smart with their bodies and I think we fell into the trap way too many times.

"We got shots on net, but I just don't think the shots were good enough quality," she added of the 31 shots they threw at Red Deer goalie Tracie Kikuchi, to no avail.

"We ended up getting pushed out to the perimeter and we accepted it too easily."

Red Deer's Kaci Jones banged a rebound past MacEwan goalie Sandy Heim at 10:10 of the second period for the only goal that mattered. Red Deer was content to clog up all the lanes the rest of the way and they sealed the victory when Jessica Anderson roofed it into an empty net with 15 seconds left.

Sandy Heim made 31 saves in a losing effort.

The Griffins, losing for the first time this season at the DCA, fall to 4-4, third place in the ACAC standings. Red Deer, which also bested MacEwan on Wednesday (3-1), improves to 6-2, good for second.

Going forward, the Griffins will continue working on getting traffic in front of the net, something they weren't able to do much of against the Queens.

"Ironically, it's actually something we've been working on since Day 1," said McAlpine. "It's still a process. You can see sometimes in tough games, the youth of our team.

"On the flip side of that, I think we're generating a lot from our young players. They haven't learned yet how to capitalize in this league."

The Griffins will next host SAIT on Friday, Nov. 11 (7 p.m., DCA).