Patrick Daly’21 passes to the forward line.(Jennifer L’Hommedieu’19/Staff)

On February 8 and 9 2019, the Vikes played in their inaugural Varsity Columbus Blue Jackets Cup. On Friday, 14 seeded Academy looked to defeat 11 seed Bishop Watterson in the first round of the tournament after narrowly losing to them on January 27.

The game started off slowly, with no action until Watterson scored with five minutes to go, ending the period 1-0. In the second, the action ramped up as the Eagles scored four minutes in, but sophomore Campbell Gwin pulled one back for the Vikes with four minutes left. One minute later, freshman Jake Carlin evened the score at two. After halftime, a massive penalty shot save from sophomore goaltender Max Crane, a shot from Luke Budzik’21 put the Vikes ahead. The rest of the match was Academy holding onto its lead and adding one more to their tally with a second goal from Carlin.

On the 9th, the Vikes faced 10 seed Springboro, who had narrowly defeated DeSales the night before. Springboro opened the scoring two minutes into the first, and a power play doubled their lead with two minutes left in the opening period. Academy seemed helpless and unlucky as a power play let Springboro extend its lead to three, then four, and when the power play was over, they added one more. The Vikes seemed down for the count until Gwin opened the scoring for Academy 18 seconds into the third period. Two minutes later, Jacob Sardo’19 scored again to cut Springboro’s lead to three. With eight minutes left, Springboro made it 6-2, only for Budzik to pull another back 40 seconds later. Gwin struck again to bring the Vikes within two with five minutes to play. Academy had to score at least another goal with a six on three chance with one minute to play. But they had no such luck. Academy lost 6-4 to Springboro, who went on to lose to Cincinnati Moeller in the final of the CBJ cup on Sunday, February 10.

Academy has districts, opening against Centerville at 2pm on Saturday, February 16.