Junior Campbell Gwin leaves a defender in the dust as he takes a shot at goal. (Henry Rubey’22/Media)
This week, coming off of unlucky successive pre-season losses, our girls and guys faced off against Dublin Coffman in the regular season opener.
On Friday, November 22, the squad traveled to Dublin to play the Shamrocks, who are a division ahead of the Vikes. After conceding an early goal, Campbell Gwin’21 tied the match for the Vikes later in the first period. Academy fought hard into overtime, but neither team broke the deadlock after Gwin’s ejection. The match ended 1-1 against Coffman in a stunning result for the Shamrocks.
The next day, Saturday, November 23, Academy played Athens in the home opener. The Vikes dominated the first period, with Jake Carlin’22 fighting for the puck behind the net, winning the battle, then assisting a brace by Gwin. Unluckily for the team, Athens tied it up before going into the second.
Despite Athens’ goal late in the first, the Vikes dominated but only put away one chance, with Carlin scoring one for himself to make it 2-1 going into the final period.
In the third, the Bulldogs fought hard to pull one back. Athens found themselves in front of the net, but Carlin threw his stick at the puck, saving the goal and giving the Bulldogs a penalty. Athens’ players tried to fool junior goalkeeper Max Crane with a backhand fake to a forehand, but Crane made the save. Two minutes later, Athens tied it up at 2-2 off a rebound. With two and a half minutes to play, the Vikes got a 5-on-3 power play. Carlin got the puck in the corner, while Allen Koganov’22 made a move into the slot, and Carlin put the chance on a platter for Koganov, who capitalized and returned the lead to Academy. With a little over a minute left in the match, Athens pulled their goalie and slid the puck through Crane’s five-hole, tying the match at 3-a-piece. With 40 seconds left, neither team had enough time to get the decisive goal, and in overtime, despite chances for the Vikes, the puck just wouldn’t go in. The match ended 3-3 in a six-goal thriller.
The Vikes will look to turn these ties into wins against Archbishop Moeller on Sunday, November 24, DeSales on Friday, December 6, a rematch against Athens on Saturday, December 7, and DeSales again on Sunday, December 8.
Both the Desales games will be at Chiller Easton, while the match against Archbishop Moeller will be at Northland Ice Center and the rematch with Athens will take place at Ohio University’s Bird Arena.
