The Vikings forward, Evan Boucher (27) lets one rip but the Canadians’ goalie, Ryan Whitehurst gets a blocker on the puck. As Viking, Samuel Mattie battles Canadians’ Constantine Tzougarakis (10) for the rebound. The Canadians evened the series at two with a 6-1 victory. Moore photo

CASSELMAN—The Casselman Vikings opened the CCHL2 Martin Division final with four games this past week as they travelled to Ottawa on Tuesday night to take on the Ottawa Canadians in game one. The Vikings welcomed the Canadians on Thursday night in game two, travelled back to Ottawa Saturday night for game three and finished the weekend off at home on Sunday night for game four.

The Vikings’ Jarrett Williams (44) and Jason Cossette (18) force the Canadians’ defender, Constantine Tzougarakis (10) to give up the puck. The Vikings’ offence kicked into high gear in the second period scoring five goals and hung on for a 5-1 victory taking a two games to one series lead. Moore photo

Canadians 6 Vikings 1

The Casselman Vikings welcomed the Ottawa Jr. Canadians to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Sun., March 24, for game four of the best of seven CCHL2 Martin Division final. The Vikings took a two games to one series lead after defeating the Canadians in the previous game 5-1 and looked to take a stranglehold on the series with a victory. 

The Canadians opened the scoring just 2:11 into the first period as Noel Mosses deKemp scored his first of the post season from Andre Giordano and Janick Lacroix taking a 1-0 lead. The Canadians took a two-goal lead when Thomas Freel scored his fifth of the playoffs from Giordano and Johnny Pickering at 12:08 on the power play. The Canadians took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. 

The Canadians scored the lone goal of the second period as Raphael Lecours scored his fifth of the playoffs from Justin Turner and Mike Hall at 9:16. The Canadians took a 3-0 lead into the second intermission. 

The Canadians continued to pressure the Vikings in the third period, and at 6:13 made it 4-0 as Lecours scored his second of the game and fifth of the playoffs from Robbie Pickard and Devin Saumur. The Canadians made it 5-0 when Pickard scored his second in the post season from Turner and Lecours at 14:13. 

The Vikings finally got on the scoreboard when Jarrett Williams scored his second of the playoffs unassisted at 14:59. The Canadians closed out the scoring when Antonio Licandro scored his first of the post season from Lacroix and de Kemp at 15:15. 

The Canadians took the game 6-1 tying the series at two wins apiece. The Vikings outshot the Canadians 41-39. Picking up the win in the Canadians’ goal was Ryan Whitehurst making 40 saves and suffering the loss in the Vikings’ goal was Nick Campbell making 33 saves.

Vikings 5 Canadians 1

The Casselman Vikings travelled to the Earl Armstrong Arena in Ottawa to take on the Ottawa Jr. Canadians on Sat., March 23, for game three of the best of seven CCHL2 Martin Division final. The Canadians knotted the series at one game apiece in the previous game as the Vikings looked to take a series lead with a victory. 

The two teams are evenly matched as after the first two games, each team had scored four goals and the shots on goal were within one. The teams battled to a scoreless first period but the shots favoured the Vikings 11-9. 

The Vikings opened the scoring when Shawn Patterson scored his sixth goal of the playoffs at 9:35 of the second period from Jason Cossette and Brady Cloutier on the power play. The Vikings made it 2-0 when Samuel Mattie scored his fifth of the playoffs while shorthanded at 10:55. The Vikings took a three-goal lead as Joey Larcher scored his first of the post season from Cloutier and Adam Paquette at 13:37 and a four-goal lead when Samual Labre scored his second of the playoffs from Brandon Legare at the 15-minute mark. The Vikings made it 5-0 when Cloutier scored his second of the post season from Joel Hunt and Patterson at 16:32 on the power play. The Canadians finally got on the score sheet when Johnny Pickering scored his fifth of the playoffs from Andre Giordano and Nicolas Seguin on the power play with just 46 seconds remaining in the middle frame. The Vikings took a 5-1 lead into the second intermission. 

Both teams had nine shots on goal in the third period and traded power plays but neither was able to score as the Vikings took the game 5-1. With the win, the Vikings headed home with a series lead. 

The teams each had 32 shots on goal. Picking up the win in the Vikings’ goal was Nick Campbell making 31 saves and suffering the loss in the Canadians’ goal was Ryan Whitehurst making 16 saves. Whitehurst was pulled with five minutes remaining in the second period; his replacement Conor Corrigan made 11 saves on 12 shots.

Canadians 3 Vikings 1

The Casselman Vikings welcomed the Ottawa Jr. Canadians to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., March 21, for game two of the best of seven CCHL2 Martin Division final. The Vikings took the first game of the series 3-1 and looked to use home ice to take a 2-0 lead as the Canadians looked to even the score. 

The Canadians opened the scoring with just six seconds remaining in the opening frame when Thomas Freel scored his fourth of the playoffs from Johnny Pickering and Nicolas Seguin and took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. 

The Canadians made it 2-0 when Devin Saumur scored his seventh of the post season from Justin Turner and Andre Giordano while shorthanded just 1:51 into the second period. The Vikings outshot the Canadians in the second period 11-7 but trailed 2-0 heading into the second intermission. 

The Canadians took a three-goal lead when Pickard scored his first of the post season from Turner and Raphael Lecours on the power play at 2:32 of the third period. The Vikings cut the deficit by one when affiliated player from the North Dundas Rockets, Jarrett Williams scored in his first game as a Viking at 18:18 from Gabriel Rousselle and Frederick Gagnier. 

The Vikings pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker with just under a minute remaining but were unable to close the gap as the Canadians took game two 3-1, evening the series at one. The Vikings outshot the Canadians 30-28. Picking up the win in the Canadians’ goal was Ryan Whitehurst making 29 saves and suffering the loss in the Vikings’ goal was Nick Campbell making 25 saves.

Vikings 3 Canadians 1

The Casselman Vikings travelled to the Earl Armstrong Arena in Ottawa to take on the Ottawa Jr. Canadians on Tues., March 19, for game one of the best of seven CCHL2 Martin Division final. The Vikings knocked off the Ottawa West Golden Knights four games to one in the semifinal to advance to take on the Canadians after they swept their first-round series over the Char-Lan Rebels. 

The teams just felt each other out in the opening frame battling to a scoreless draw. The Vikings outshot the Canadians 13-11. 

The Vikings opened the scoring at the six-minute mark of the second period as Evan Landry slapped one home from the blue line for his second goal of the playoffs from Evan Boucher on the power play taking a 1-0 lead. Again, the Vikings outshot the Canadians, 15-9 and took a 1-0 lead into the second intermission. 

The Vikings made it 2-0 when Brady Cloutier scored his first of the post season from Jason Cossette at 12:21 of the third period on the power play. 

The Vikings ran into penalty troubles and the Canadians capitalized with just 1:52 remaining as Nicolas Seguin scored his fourth of the playoffs from Johnny Pickering and Robbie Pickard on the power play to close the gap to one. 

The Canadians pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker but that backfired as Samuel Mattie slid one into the abandoned cage with just 56 seconds remaining. The Vikings were able to hang on for a 3-1 victory in game one taking a 1-0 series lead heading back to Casselman. The Canadians outshot the Vikings 33-30. 

Picking up the win in the Vikings’ goal was Nick Campbell making 32 saves and suffering the loss in the Canadians’ goal was Ryan Whitehurst making 27 saves.

Up next

The Casselman Vikings welcome the Ottawa Jr. Canadians to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., March 28, for game six of the best of seven CCHL2 Martin Division final at 7:30 p.m. if necessary. Game seven will be at the Earl Armstrong Arena in Ottawa on Sat., March 30, at 7:20 p.m.