The Casselman Vikings travelled to the Barbara Ann Scott Arena in Ottawa to take on the Ottawa West Golden Knights on Mon., March 4, for game two of the best of seven CCHL2 Martin Division semifinal. The Vikings’ forward, Samuel Mattie (28) fired a shot past the Golden Knights’ goalie, Mitchell Bown for the Vikings’ fourth goal of the game. The Golden Knights defender, Bobby Dempster tried to get a stick on the puck. The Vikings went on to take the game 5-2 taking a 2-0 series lead. Moore photo

OTTAWA—The Casselman Vikings played two playoff games this week as they welcomed the Ottawa West Golden Knights on Sunday night for game one and travelled to Ottawa on Monday night to take on the Golden Knights for game two of the series.

Vikings 5 Golden Knights 2

The Casselman Vikings travelled to the Barbara Ann Scott Arena in Ottawa on Mon., March 4, to take on the Ottawa West Golden Knights in game two of the best of seven CCHL2 semifinal. The Vikings drew first blood in the series taking game one decisively 5-1 and looked to go up two games to one with a victory. 

The Vikings opened the scoring when Yanick Dicaire snapped one home from Shawn Patterson just 1:39 into the first period. The Vikings made it 2-0 when Patterson scored his second of the playoffs from Joel Hunt and Brady Cloutier on the power play at 5:09. 

The Vikings added another goal with just 1:18 remaining in the opening frame as Frederick Gagnier scored his third from Pierce Britton and took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. The Vikings struck again at 13:12 of the second period as Samuel Mattie scored his first of the post season from Brady Cloutier and Joel Hunt on the power play. 

The Vikings ran into some penalty trouble on questionable calls and the Golden Knights took advantage scoring at 15:04 as Justin James scored from Daniel Stratis and again with eight seconds remaining in the middle frame as Nolan Marshall scored from Ben Kreyzerman both on the power play. 

The Golden Knights tried to close the gap but the Vikings’ defence only allowed six third-period shots. With about a minute and a half remaining, the Golden Knights pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker but it was the Vikings who closed out the scoring as Mattie scored his second of the game from Louis Chabot and Gabriel Rousselle into an empty net. 

The Vikings took the game 5-2 and a 2-0 series lead heading back to Casselman for game three. The Vikings outshot the Golden Knights 31-30. Picking up the win in the Vikings’ goal was Nick Campbell making 28 saves and suffering the loss in the Golden Knights’ goal was Miguel Daoust making nine saves before being replaced by Mitchell Bown who made 17 saves.

The Casselman Vikings welcomed the Ottawa West Golden Knights to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Sun., March 3, for game one of the CCHL2 Martin Division semifinal. The Vikings’ forward, Mathieu Talbot (17) tries to get a stick on this shot from the point as the Golden Knights’ goalie, Miguel Daoust follows the the puck. Talbot and the Vikings took the game 5-1 and a series lead of one game to none. Moore photo

Vikings 5 Golden Knights 1

The Casselman Vikings welcomed the Ottawa West Golden Knights to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Sun., March 3, for game one of the best of seven CCHL2 Martin Division semifinal. The Vikings finished the regular season in second place while the Golden Knights finished in third securing home ice advantage. 

The Vikings opened the scoring at 9:47 of the first period as Gabriel Russell snapped one home from Ryan Williams and Frederick Gagnier taking a 1-0 lead. The Vikings doubled the Golden Knights on shots 14-7 but took just a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. 

The Vikings made it 2-0 when Yanick Dicaire fired one home from Shawn Patterson and Rouselle just 25 seconds into the second period. The Vikings scored another pair of goals at 7:37 as Patterson sniped one from Jason Cossette and Brady Cloutier on the power play and again at 14:45 as Gagnier blasted one to the back of the net from Cossette. The Vikings took a commanding 4-0 lead into the second intermission. 

Gagnier scored his second of the game at 5:29 of the third period from Evan Boucher and Evan Landry on the power play giving the Vikings a 5-0 lead. 

The Golden Knights finally got on the scoreboard at 16:04 as Justin Jamer scored from Daniel Stratis and Andrew MacKinnon on the power play. The Vikings hung on for the 5-1 victory taking game one. 

The Vikings outshot the Golden Knights 41-27. Picking up the win in the Vikings’ goal was Nick Campbell making 26 saves and suffering the loss for the Golden Knights was Miguel Daoust making 26 saves.

Up next

The Casselman Vikings welcome the Ottawa West Golden Knights to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., March 7 for game three at 7:30 p.m. and travel to the Barbara Ann Scott Arena in Ottawa on Sat., March 9, for game four at 7:20 p.m. The Vikings then head back home for game five on Tues., March 12, at 7:30 p.m.