The Casselman Vikings welcomed the Embrun Panthers to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., Nov. 27, in the CCHL2. The Vikings forward, Samuel Lacroix (27) battles the Panthers’ forward, Nathan Everett and goalie, Marco Latassa for a loose puck. Lacroix and the Vikings were upset at home by the Panthers 3-2. Moore photo
CASSELMAN—The Casselman Vikings played two games this past week as they travelled to Ottawa on Tuesday night to take on the Ottawa Jr. Canadians and welcomed the Embrun Panthers on Thursday night.
Panthers 3 Vikings 2
The Casselman Vikings welcomed the Embrun Panthers to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., Nov. 27, in the CCHL2. The Vikings went into the game in first place just one point ahead of the Ottawa West Golden Knights in second and two points up on the Ottawa Junior Canadians in third in the Martin Division.
The Panthers went into the game in fourth place, just one point behind the Canadians. The Panthers opened the scoring when Marshall Drevniok scored his third goal of the season from Eric Skyba and Juno Gregoire at 3:54 of the first period taking a 1-0 lead.
The Panthers took a two-goal lead when Carter Peck scored his first of the season from Drevniok and Cameron MacMillan on the power play at 9:08. The Panthers took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
The Panthers welcomed back Riley Carisse to their lineup after he was out with an injury for more than one month and that paid dividends as he scored his first of the season at 4:33 of the second period. The Vikings outshot the Panthers in the second period 18-7 but couldn’t find the back of the net.
The Panthers took a 3-0 lead into the second intermission. The Vikings finally got on the score board when Mikaël Bissonnette scored his third of the season from Justin Grégoire at 6:04 of the third period.
The Vikings got to within one as Bissonnette scored his second of the game and fourth of the season from Alexandre Charlebois and Samuel Lacroix at 11:50. With about 45 seconds remaining in regulation, the Vikings pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker but the Panthers were able to hold the Vikings off the scoresheet as the final buzzer sounded to end the game.
The Panthers took their second win of the season against the Vikings by a score of 3-2. With the win, the Panthers jumped into a first-place tie with the Ottawa West Golden Knights. The Vikings slipped to third place.
The Vikings outshot the Panthers 47-21. Picking up the win in the Panthers’ goal was Marco Latassa making 45 saves and suffering the loss in the Vikings’ goal was Zachari Racine making 18 saves.
Vikings 4 Canadians 3 (OT)
The Casselman Vikings travelled the Earl Armstrong Arena in Ottawa to take on the Ottawa Jr. Canadians on Tues., Nov. 26, in the CCHL2. The Vikings went into the game in a second-place tie with the Canadians and with a win, they could move back into first place in the Martin Division.
The Canadians opened the scoring at 4:27 of the first period and held the lead heading into the first intermission. The Canadians made it 2-0 at 14:14 of the second period on the power play but the Vikings answered just six seconds later as Mikael Houle scored his fifth goal of the season unassisted. The Canadians took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
The Canadians restored their two-goal lead at 6:15 of the third period but again, the Vikings closed the gap to one as Jason Cossette banged home his 12th of the season from Zachary Power and Austin Ladouceur at the 18-minute mark.
The Vikings found themselves on a power play in the last minute and made it count as Shawn Patterson sniped his sixth of the season from Mathieu Talbot and Nicolas Chartrand on the power play with just 11 seconds remaining in regulation.
The clock wound down with the teams knotted at three, so the game headed to a five-minute three-on-three overtime period. In the extra frame it was the Vikings taking the game as François Drouin riffled home his 14th of the season from Patterson and Xavier Léveillé just 1:15 into the overtime.
With the win, the Vikings moved into sole possession of first place. The Canadians outshot the Vikings 23-22. Picking up the win in the Vikings’ goal was Nick Campbell making 20 saves.
Up next
The Casselman Vikings welcome the Brockville Tikis to the J. R. Brisson Complex on Thurs., Dec. 5, at 7:30 p.m. and travel to the Char-Lan Recreation Centre in Williamstown to take on the Char-Lan Rebels at 8 p.m.
