The Vikings welcomed the Athens Aeros to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., Feb. 8, in the CCHL2. The Vikings’ forward Brendan Doherty (11) had a big night scoring a hat trick and setting up another for four points as the Vikings put it to the Aeros 10-2. Doherty is third in team scoring with 20 goals, and 42 assists for 62 points. Courtesy Lauwers photo
Jeff Moore
Record Staff
OTTAWA—The Casselman Vikings had two games this past week.
Vikings 4 Golden Knights 1: The Vikings travelled to the Barbara Ann Scott Arena in Ottawa on Mon., Feb. 12, to take on the Ottawa West Golden Knights in the CCHL2. The Vikings went into the game in first place in the Martin Division, nine points ahead of the Ottawa Canadians. The Golden Knights sat in fourth place, three points behind the Embrun Panthers in third and three points ahead of the Alexandria Glens in fifth.
The Golden Knights opened the scoring at 5:25 of the first period to take a 1-0 lead. The Vikings answered at 17:06 when Sean David snapped one to the back of the net from Sebastien Plante and Ethan Wensink on the power play.
The Vikings outshot the Golden Knights 14-11 but settled for a one-all draw heading into the first intermission. The Vikings made it 2-1 when David scored his second of the night from Danik Drouin and Shane Spencer just 37 seconds into the second period.
With the clock winding down in the middle frame, Drouin slapped one home with just three seconds remaining from Spencer and David and took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission. The Vikings capped off the scoring when Brendan Doherty fired one home from Plante and Joel Hunt at 5:37 of the third period and took the game 4-1.
With the win, the Vikings move 11 points ahead of the Canadians. Picking up the win in the Vikings’ goal was Nick Campbell making 31 saves on 32 shots.
Vikings 10 Aeros 2: The Vikings welcomed the Athens Aeros to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., Feb. 8, in the CCHL2. The Vikings went into the game with an 11-point lead in first place over the Ottawa Canadians in the Martin Division. The Aeros have had a good season and were up until a couple of games ago challenging for the top seed in the Richardson Division falling four points behind the Westport Rideaus.
The teams battled to a scoreless first period with the Aeros have a slim lead in shots on goal 7-6.
The second period became a one-sided shootout at the “OK” corral with 11 goals being scored. The Aeros opened the scoring just 57 seconds into the second period and that woke up the Vikings’ inner demons as they scored the next seven consecutive goals.
Ryan Sabourin started the onset with a goal at 2:50 from Olivier Brunet and Jason Cossette, Sean David lit the lamp at 3:15 from Andrew Black and Brendan Doherty, Ethan Wensink fired one home at 3:37 from Yanik Dicaire and Carter Malette, Malette scored at 3:59 from Wensink, David scored his second of the game from Sebastien Plante and Jonah Peters, Malette scored his second of the game at 11:31 from Dicaire and Wensink and Suborn scored his second from Brunet and Dicaire on the power play to make it 7-1.
The Aeros got one back at 13:50 while short-handed but the Vikings answered with a couple more at the 15-minute mark as Doherty blasted one home from David and Plante and Doherty scored his second at 17:15 from Jonatan Yarmelke and Plante, both goals coming on the power play.
The Vikings took an 9-2 lead into the second intermission. The Vikings scored the lone goal of the third period as Doherty completed his hat trick from David and Plante at 13:31 as the Vikings put it to the surprised Aeros 10-2.
With the win, the Vikings move 13 points ahead of the Canadians all but locking up the division title. Picking up the win in the Vikings’ goal was Zachary Paputsakis making 19 saves on 21 shots.
Vikings 5 Canadians 3: The Vikings travelled to the Earl Armstrong Arena in Ottawa to take on the Canadians on Tues., Feb. 6, in the CCHL2. The Vikings went into the game in first place in the Martin Division with a nine-point lead over the second-place Canadians and were coming off an 11-2 lopsided win over the Richmond Royals. The Canadians have not played that well since a shake-up at the trade deadline but have won six of their last 10 games. The Canadians came out of the gate on fire scoring just 2:09 into the first period to take a 1-0 lead.
The Vikings fought back and knotted the affair as Carter Malette pounded one to the back of the net from Ethan Wensink and Yanick Dicaire at 9:20. The Vikings took their first lead of the game at 13:29 as Brendan Doherty slapped one home from Jason Cossette and Andrew Black and took the 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
The Vikings made it 3-1 as Malette netted his second of the game from Dicaire and Wensink at 8:27 of the second period. The Canadians got back to within one at 9:28 and tied the game at 10:57.
The teams took a three-all deadlock into the second intermission. Carter completed his hat trick at 4:32 of the third period giving the Vikings at 4-3 lead from Gabriel Rousselle and Dicaire. The Vikings made it 5-3 with just 34 seconds showing on the clock in regulation as Sean David slid one home from Wensink and Doherty on the power play.
The Vikings hung on for the 5-3 victory, moving 11 points ahead of the Canadians. Picking up the win in the Vikings’ goal was Nick Campbell making 21 saves on 24 shots.
Up next: Thurs., Feb. 15, 7:30 p.m., Vikings vs. Winchester Hawks, J. R. Brisson Complex, Casselman; Sun., Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m., Vikings vs. Packers, Nick Smith Arena, Arnprior.
