The Casselman Vikings welcomed the Carleton Place Canadians to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Sun., April 8 for Game 3 of the best of seven CCHL2 championship. The Vikings went into the game with a chance go three games up on the Canadians after taking the first two games of the series. Most of the games for the Vikings this playoff season have been decided by just one goal mostly because of the play of their goalie, Nick Campbell. The Embrun native has nine wins, one shutout and four losses with a save percentage of .907 and a goals against average of 2.56.     Courtesy Lauwer photo

The Casselman Vikings welcomed the Carleton Place Canadians to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., April 5, for Game 1 of the best of seven CCHL2 championship. The Vikings forward, Joel Hunt, has silently had a good playoff year scoring four goals and two assists. Hunt scored the game-winning goal to give the Vikings a 1-0 series lead after taking the opener 3-2. Courtesy Lauwers photo

Jeff Moore
Record Staff
CASSELMAN—The Casselman Vikings began defence of the CCHL2’s Barkley Cup in the championship series against the Carleton Place Canadians with three games this past weekend as they welcomed the Canadians on Thursday night for Game 1, travelled to Carleton Place on Saturday night for Game 2 and welcomed the Canadians on Sunday night for Game 3.

Canadians 4 Vikings 3 (OT): The Casselman Vikings welcomed the Carleton Place Canadians to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Sun., April 8, for Game 3 of the best of seven CCHL2’s Barkley Cup. The Vikings came home with a 2-0 series lead after defeating the Canadians the previous night by a score of 4-2 in Carleton Place.

The Vikings looked to take a stranglehold on the series with a victory and the Canadians needed a win to stay in the series and avoid a sweep.

The Vikings opened the scoring when Sean David was set up by Ethan Wensink by the right hand post for the tap in at 3:56 of the first period to take a 1-0 lead. Picking up the extra helper was Carter Malette.

The Vikings made it 2-0 when Sebastien Plante snapped one home from the slot at 12:40 from Brendan Doherty and Yanick Dicaire. The Canadians cut the Vikings’ lead in half when Aiden Parnell scored from James Lister and Spencer Marshall with 2:32 remaining in the opening frame.

The Vikings took the 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The Vikings controlled the play for the first 10 minutes of the second period but the momentum shifted slightly in the second half of the period and the Canadians took advantage as Alex Vala scored from the high slot with just four seconds remaining in the middle frame from Eastan Eckert and Hisham Barayan.

The Canadians outshot the Vikings 16-10 but headed into the dressing room for the second intermission knotted at two. The Canadians took their first lead of the game when Reece Bolton scored at 5:32 of the third period from Cameron Patton and Mitchell Kealey.

The Vikings owned the rest of the period outshooting the Canadians 13-5 and at 14:05 one of these shots found the back of the net as Ryan Sabourin pounded one home from Joel Hunt tying the game at three.

Nothing was decided before the end of regulation so the game headed to a 10-minute overtime period. In the extra frame, the Vikings put it to the Canadians outshooting them 9-2 but it was that second shot of the Canadians that found the back of the net as Ryland Mosely scored on the power play with just 1:46 remaining in the first overtime from Patton and Bolton.

The Canadians took the game 4-3 and are right back in the series trailing two games to one heading back to Carleton Place. Picking up the win in the Canadians’ goal was Jacob Lavergne making 39 saves on 42 shots and suffering the loss in the Vikings’ goal was Nick Campbell making 31 saves on 35 shots.

Vikings 4 Canadians 2: The Casselman Vikings travelled to the Carleton Place Arena on Sat., April 7, to take on the Canadians for Game 2 of the best of seven CCHL2’s Barkley Cup. The Vikings were riding a high after taking Game 1 by a score of 3-2 and looked to take a 2-0 series lead with a win.

The Canadians looked to stay in the series but have struggled at home throughout these playoffs. The Vikings opened the scoring at 10:05 of the first period as Ryan Sabourin sprung Sean David on a shorthanded breakaway and he slid one five-hole to take a 1-0 lead.

The shots on goal through the first 20 minutes were eight each but the visiting Vikings took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. The Vikings made it 2-0 when Joel Hunt scored on his own rebound at 9:22 of the second period on the power play from Ryan Sabourin and Yanick Dicaire.

The Canadians got that one back as the playoff scoring leader, Ryan Mosely scored from James Lister at 15:01 to make it 2-1. The Vikings regained their two-goal lead when David scored his second of the game after a three-foot pass across the crease from Ethan Wensink on the power play with just 2:02 remaining in the middle frame.

Brendan Doherty also picked up an assist on the play and the Vikings took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission. The Canadians’ defenseman decided to take things into his own hands as he went from coast to coast right up the centre of the ice almost uncontested and went to the backhand beating the Vikings’ goalie, Nick Campbell at 13:16 of the third period unassisted.

The Canadians pulled their goalie, Jacob Lavergne, in favour of an extra attacker with about a minute and a half remaining in regulation to make it a six on five. The Vikings didn’t allow the Canadians to get set up in their end and with just 14 seconds remaining, Wensink fired one into the empty goal from below the right face-off circle to make it 4-2 unassisted. The Vikings took the game 4-2 taking a 2-0 series lead heading back to the friendly confines of the J. R. Brisson Complex.

Picking up the win in the Vikings’ goal was Campbell making 28 saves on 30 shots and suffering the loss in the Canadians’ goal was Lavergne making 28 saves on 30 shots.

Vikings 3 Canadians 2: The Casselman Vikings welcomed the Carleton Place Canadians to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., April 5, for Game 1 of the best of seven CCHL2’s Barkley Cup. The Vikings made it to the championship round after taking out the Embrun Panthers in four games in round one and the Perth Blue Wings in a gruelling seven games in round two.

The Canadians beat the Renfrew Timberwolves in round one and the also had a seven-game series against the Ottawa Canadians in round two. The Canadians drew first blood in the series as James Lister scored just 1:26 into the first period to take a 1-0 lead.

The Vikings outshot the Canadians in the opening frame 9-8 but trailed 1-0 heading into the first intermission. The second period was all Vikings as ice seemed to tilt one way. The Vikings tied the game at 5:21 as Sebastien Plante snapped one home from the slot on the power play from Ryan Sabourin and Ethan Wensink.

Carter Malette gave the Vikings their first lead of the game after a rebound landed on his stick right beside the right post and he was able to slide it across the goal line with just 18 seconds remaining in the middle frame from Kyle Millett’s gain on the power play.

The Vikings took the 2-1 lead into the second intermission. The Vikings took a 3-1 lead on a weird one as Joel Hunt scored off of the Canadians’ goalie, Jason Lavergne’s left leg and into the net from behind the goal line at 3:22 of the third period from Gabriel Rousselle and Olivier Brunet.

The Canadians didn’t back down as Ryland Mosley scored at 10:50 from Martin Templeton on the power play at 10:50 to make it 3-2. The Vikings gave the Canadians a chance to tie the game when Sean David was assessed a hooking call at 16:50.

The Canadians pulled their goalie partway through the penalty to make it a six-on-four advantage but the Vikings thwarted all scoring chances and killed the penalty off. The Canadians pulled their goalie again but in the exchange of players, they were called for too many men.

The Canadians got possession of the puck and pulled their goalie again to make it a five-on-five situation but just could not get set up in the Vikings end. The Vikings had three shots at the empty net but missed all three times.

With about 25 seconds remaining, the Canadians found themselves on a breakaway but the Vikings’ goalie, Nick Campbell turned it aside as the Vikings took game one 3-2 and a 1-0 series lead. Picking up the win in the Vikings’ goal was Campbell making 14 saves on 16 shots and suffering the loss in the Canadians’ goal was Lavergne making 29 saves on 32 shots.

Up next: The Vikings travel to the Carleton Place Arena tonight Wed., April 11, for Game 4 of the best of seven CCHL2 championship to take on the Canadians at 8:15 p.m. The Vikings then welcome the Canadians to the J. R. Brisson Complex for Game 5 on Thurs., April 12, at 8 p.m. Game 6 will be in Carleton Place on Sat., April 14, at 8:15 p.m. (if necessary) and Game 7 will be on Sun., April 15, in Casselman at 7:30 p.m.