Defender Allen Koganov’22 maneuvers puck from his opponent. (Jenny L’Hommedieu’19)
This weekend, the Academy Ice Hockey team played against Gahanna Lincoln and Thomas Worthington.
After beginning the season in style two weeks ago with impressive 4-1 and 11-3 wins against Sycamore and Dublin-Scioto respectively, Academy came to its home ice as the away team to face Gahanna Lincoln on Friday, November 30. The game was aggressive and even in the first period, as the two teams played each other to a goalless opening period.
Three minutes into the second period, sophomore Campbell Gwin broke the deadlock, giving the Vikings control. Senior co-captain Cole Walker took advantage of this and scored two minutes later to double the lead on the Lions. Academy played rough but continued to dominate Gahanna until–with 16 seconds left in the period–the Lions pulled one back to gain the advantage before going into the locker room.
To start the final fifteen minutes, it looked like Gahanna Lincoln could level at any moment, but seven minutes in, senior co-captain Gunnar Geiger scored. One minute later, Walker slapped the puck home to pull away. To cap off the night, Gwin scored again, securing a 5-1 victory for the Vikings, improving their record to 3-0 on the season.
The next day, Dublin Scioto hosted Academy in Dublin, with the first period of being action packed. The Vikings found the back of the net early, with Geiger scoring four minutes into the game. But Scioto quickly countered, scoring three times to end the first period.
The Irish carried their momentum into the next period, scoring early to extend its lead to three. Three minutes later though, Jacob Sardo’19 pulled one back with a nice shot. Academy could not capitalize on its advantage however, conceding three more to the Irish to head into the locker room trailing by five.
Academy fought hard in the third period, holding the Irish, but the Vikings also could not find the back of the net, losing for the first time in regular season play as a varsity team 7-2.
The Columbus Academy Ice Hockey team now stands at a respectable 3-1 in the season. While there are still some kinks to work out, penalties especially, we can expect a solid first season as a varsity team from our Vikings.
