The Casselman Vikings welcomed the Richmond Royals to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., Sept. 20, for their home opener in the CCHL2. The Vikings veteran forward, Joel Hunt (22) keeps his eyes on the puck after it was fired from the blue line to try to get a redirect on goal. The Royals’ goalie, Liam White tries to look around the Vikings’ forward and defenseman and Cory Kippen prepares to act. Hunt and the Vikings went on to take the game 9-4. Hunt scored two goals and picked up two helpers in the win.        Moore photo

The champs are here
The Casselman Vikings unveiled their CCHL2 Championship Banner prior to the drop of the puck on Thurs., Sept. 20. The honours were given to present captain, Brady Cloutier and former captain Sebastien Plante.The Casselman Vikings travelled the Westport Arena on Fri., Sept. 21, to take on the Rideaus in the CCHL2. The Vikings were coming off a successful home opener with a 9-4 win over the Richmond Royals and looked to go to 4-0 and spoil the Rideaus’ home opener. The Rideaus opened the scoring at 9:48 of the first period taking a 1-0 lead.The Vikings got that one back when Yanick Dicaire scored his third goal of the season from Joel Hunt on the power play at 14:14. The Rideaus retook the lead at 16:56 and took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.The Rideaus rhymed off three consecutive goals in the second period at 11:47, 17:30 and 18:04 on the power play. The Rideaus took a 5-1 leading the second intermission. The Vikings found themselves on a ten-minute power play to start the third period and took advantage as Joel Hunt snapped home his third of the season from Samuel Mattie and Dicaire just 1:01 into the frame.The Vikings got to within two when Shawn Patterson sniped his second of the season from Brady Cloutier and Evan Boucher at 3:01 The Vikings got to within a shot of tying the game at 3:14 as Mattie fired home his fifth of the season from Gabriel Rousselle and Brandon Legare.

WESTPORT—The Vikings played two games this past weekend as they welcomed the Richmond Royals on Thursday night and travelled to Westport on Friday night to take on the Rideaus.

Rideaus 5 Vikings 4
The Vikings pressed to score the equalizer but the Rideaus held on for a 5-4 victory. The loss was the first for the Vikings of the season and sit at a 3-1-0 record. Suffering the loss in the Vikings’ goal was Nick Campbell making 43 saves on 48 shots.

Vikings 9 Royals 1
The Casselman Vikings welcomed the Richmond Royals to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., Sept. 20, for their home opener in the CCHL2. The Vikings were coming off a sweep at the CCHL2 Showcase in Arnprior the previous weekend with wins over the Perth Blue Wings and the Carleton Place Canadians and looked to stay unbeaten in the early regular season.

The Vikings got off to a good start as Yanick Dicaire opened the scoring just 3:02 into the first period from Kyle Green and Shane Spencer to take a 1-0 lead. The Vikings made it 2-0 when Joel Hunt scored his second goal of the season from Jason Cossette and Shawn Patterson at 7:16 and 3-0 when Patterson lit the lamp from Hunt and Gabriel Rousselle just 30 seconds later.

Less than a minute later the Vikings made it a 4-0 game as Dylan Robinson scored his first CCHL2 goal from Brandon Legare and Green. The Royals called a time out to try to stop the bleeding following the goal but that didn’t slow the Vikings down as Legare fired home his first CCHL2 goal from Robinson and Tyler Ballantyne at 12:42.

The Royals finally got one back just 14 seconds later and scored a second goal with just 57 seconds remaining in the opening frame on the power play.  The Vikings took a 5-2 lead into the first intermission.

The Vikings struck again as Hunt scored his second of the game from Patterson and Cossette just 1:39 into the second period to make it 6-2. Cossette gave the Vikings a 7-2 lead at the six-minute mark from Hunt and Patterson.

The Vikings made it 8-2 when Spencer scored his third goal of the season from Dicaire and Brady Cloutier at 7:56. The Royals answered with a goal at 15:57 but trailed 8-3 heading into the second intermission.

The Vikings kept the pressure on scoring just 25 seconds into the third period as Samuel Mattie sniped his fourth goal of the season while shorthanded on a breakaway unassisted. There were 14 minor penalties assessed in the third period as frustration sat in.

The Royals did manage one last goal with only 1:11 showing on the clock but it wasn’t enough as the Vikings took the game 9-4. The Vikings have scored 24 goals in their first four games. With the win, the Vikings moved into a first-place tie with the Ottawa Canadians, with six points each.

Picking up the win in the Vikings’ goal was Nicholas Campbell making 35 saves on 39 shots.

Former Vikings players, Carter Malette (left), present captain, Brady Cloutier, Ethan Wensink, past captain, Sebastien Plante, Kyle Millet and Olivier Brunet were on hand to unveil the Vikings’ 2017-18 CCHL2 Championship Banner. Moore photos

Up next
The Casselman Vikings welcome the Ottawa Canadians to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., Sept. 27, at 7:30 p.m. and travel to the Joel Steele Community Centre on Fri., Sept. 28, to take on the Winchester Hawks at 8:15 p.m.