The Winchester Hawks travelled to the Nick Smith Centre in Arnprior for the CCHL2 Showcase to open their regular season as they took on the Carleton Place Canadians on Sat., Sept. 15. The Hawks’ Hunter Randell (behind the net0 centres the puck to teammate, Miguel Pare (centre) as Kyle Kuehni looks to jump on a loose puck. The line didn’t score on this opportunity but they did connect just seconds later in the the first period to make the score 2-0. The Hawks went on to take the game 2-1 opening their season with a victory. Moore photo
The Casselman Vikings named Brady Cloutier as their pick to fill the role of captain for the 2018-19 season. The 20-year-old Embrun native is in his third year with the Vikings and is an offensive minded defenseman. Cloutier scored five goals and picked up 37 assists for 42 points last season in 46 games. Moore photo
Jeff Moore
Record Staff
ARNPRIOR — The Casselman Vikings opened their regular season at the CCHL2 Showcase in Arnprior with two games. The Vikings’ first game was on Saturday afternoon as they took on the Perth Blue Wings and their second game was against the Carleton Place Canadians on Sunday afternoon.
Vikings 10 Canadians 6
The Casselman Vikings travelled back to the Nick Smith Arena on Sun., Sept. 16, for their second game of the CCHL2 Showcase in Arnprior to take on the Carleton Place Canadians. The Vikings were coming off of their first win of the season after shutting out the Perth Blue Wings in their previous showcase game 5-0.
The last time the Vikings took on the Canadians was in the 2017-18 championship which the Vikings won in five games. The Vikings were the first to get on the scoreboard as Tyler Ballantyne fired one home from Joel Hunt at 7:58 of the first period taking a 1-0 lead.
The Canadians tied the game at 10:46 but the Vikings retook the lead when Hunt snapped one to the back of the net from Shane Spencer and Yanick Diciare at 13:08. The Vikings made it 3-1 when Frederick Gagnier lit the lamp from Etienne Agius-Pease and Evan Boucher at 17:56 and took the 3-1 lead into the first intermission.
The Canadians got back to within one at the three-minute mark of the second period but the Vikings restored their two-goal lead when Agius-Pease slid one home from Gagnier and Mathieu Talbot just 51 seconds later. The pesky Canadians got to within one again at 5:49 but Aguis-Pease scored his second goal of the game from Boucher and Ballantyne to make it 5-3.
The Canadians didn’t let up scoring at 7:56 to make it 5-4 but again, the Vikings took a two-goal lead as Spencer swatted one home from Brady Cloutier and Shawn Patterson at 8:28 making it 6-4. The Canadians made it 6-5 at 9:43 but the Vikings answered just five second later as Boucher lifted one home from Jason Cossette and Dylan Robinson to make it 7-5.
The Vikings took a three-goal lead when Cossette batted one home from Gabriel Rousselle at 12:32. The Vikings took an 8-5 lead into the second intermission. The Canadians got to within two at 11:40 of the third period but the Vikings answered as Cloutier scored an empty-net goal unassisted at 17:07.
The Canadians tried pulling their goalie for the second time but the result was the same as Samuel Matti scored in the abandoned cage with just 37 seconds remaining in the game to make it 10-6. The Vikings took the 10-6 picking up their second win and handing the Canadians their second loss of the showcase.
The shots on goal were tied at 45. Picking up the win in the Vikings’ goal was Mathieu Chenier making 39 saves on 45 shots.
Vikings 5 Blue Wings 0
The Casselman Vikings travelled up the 417 to the Nick Smith Centre in Arnprior on Sat., Sept. 15, to open their regular season against the Perth Blue Wings. The Blue Wings pushed the Vikings to seven games in the playoffs last season but the Vikings came back to take the series and then on to take the CCHL2 championship.
The Vikings opened the scoring just 1:05 into the first period as Samuel Mattie sniped one home from Etienne Agius-Pease and Evan Boucher to take a 1-0 lead. The Vikings made it 2-0 when Shane Spencer pounded home a rebound from Brady Cloutier and Shawn Paterson just 10 seconds into a power play.
The Vikings took the 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Jason Cossette scored on a breakaway just one minute into the second period unassisted to give the Vikings a 3-0 lead. The Vikings made it 4-0 when Yanick Dicaire blasted one to the back of the cage from Tyler Ballantyne and Pierce Britton at 15:29.
Mattie scored his second goal of the game from Joel Hunt and Ballantyne at 16:18 to give the Vikings a 5-0 lead. The Vikings took the 5-0 lead into the second intermission. Neither team was able to get on the board in the third period as the Vikings skating to a 5-0 victory.
The Vikings outshot the Blue Wings 38-33. Picking up the win in the Vikings’ goal was Nick Campbell making 33 saves for the shutout.
Up next
The Casselman Vikings welcome the Richmond Royals to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., Sept. 20, at 7:30 p.m. and travel to Westport on Fri., Sept. 21, to take on the Rideaus at 8 p.m.
