The Vikings spoil the defending champions home opener

Red Deer, October 13, 2023 - The University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings would spoil the Red Deer Polytechnic's home and season opener as they defeated the defending champions.

The Vikings would ruin the Kings home opener by scoring the season-opening goal eight minutes into the first period on just the second shot of the game, two seconds after the powerplay expired. Forward Jake Gudjonson (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) walked in from the blue line and beat Kings goaltender Arik Weersink (Kinesiology and Sports Studies) on the glove side.

At the end of the first period, despite being down one, the Kings outshot the Vikings 8-3.

The Vikings would shut out the Kings in the second period to hold their narrow 1-0 lead as they head into the final period. However, the Kings continued to pepper the Vikings goaltender with shots as they outshot their opponent 18-10.

Early in the third, the Polytechnic finally found the equalizer off a shot from defenceman Brennan Davis. With traffic skating across the net, Davis (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) fired a soft shot that bounced off a Vikings player and it managed to beat the Augustana goaltender top corner to tie it up at one.

Before the 10 minute mark of the third period, the Vikings regained their lead after forward Tanner Manz  (Bachelor of Business Management) picked up a loose puck on the boards, wrapped it around and placed the puck in the back of the net.

Augustana would put the nail in the coffin with an empty-net goal with just over two minutes left to play. Manz would score his second goal of the game off a shot from inside his own blue line.  

Manz was named the player of the game for the Vikings with Davis earning the honours for the Kings.

These team's will be back at it tomorrow night at 7 pm in Camrose.