Ooks Hold On Late To Defeat Vikings

EDMONTON, ALTA. - The Ooks cash in twice on the powerplay to defeat the Augustana Vikings 3-2 in ACAC men's ice hockey action Friday night at the NAIT Arena.

Augustana struck early as Adam Osczevski buried a rebound beating Patrick Gora. The Ooks responded on the powerplay as the Vikings were caught scrambling and Jarid Hauptman found Tyler Robertson wide open in the high slot, who fired it past Curtis Skip to tie the game at one. NAIT went straight back to the powerplay. With the man advantage, Jake Mykitiuk beat Skip on a beautiful one-timer to put the home team up 2-1 through twenty minutes.

The second period began with both teams exchanging penalties and chances. As the period went on the Ooks started to control the play getting a lot of quality scoring opportunities, but unable to capitalize. 

In the early minutes of the third period, the Ooks would find themselves on a five on three penalty kill, which they would end up killing off maintaining their one-goal lead. At the 11:13 mark of the final frame, Curtis Roach would find Devon McAndrews in the slot who one-timed it past Curtis Skip to give his team a 3-1 lead. With the Vikings' goalie pulled and the extra attacker on, Travis Mayan would score on a shot through traffic beating Patrick Gora with 46 seconds remaining in the game. That would be it for scoring though, as the NAIT Ooks would hold on for the 3-2 victory.

"We had a slow start tonight. I thought the two powerplay goals in the first helped get us to get on track. It's two big points and we will take them however we can get them," said Ooks head coach, Tim Fragle following the game.

Players of the Game

NAIT Ooks - Tyler Robertson

Augustana Vikings - Adam Osczevski

The Big Picture

With this win, the NAIT Ooks(13-5) leapfrog the MacEwan Griffins into first place, where they are now tied with the SAIT Trojans who defeated the Griffins tonight. The Augustana Vikings fall to 12-7 and remain in fourth place.

What's Next?

The two teams will now head to Camrose for a rematch tomorrow night at 6:00 pm.