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The North Branch boys' hockey team participated in the preseason Turkey Day Tournament in Siren, Wisconsin November 27th and 28th and skated away with the championship trophy.

North Branch 12, Spooner (WI) 0

The Vikings set several school records while thrashing Spooner in the opening game of the tournament. Freshman goalie Hunter Miska recorded a shutout while playing in his first varsity game. It was also the first shutout win in Viking varsity hockey history.

The Viking barrage was led by senior captain Jerrett Sachs. Sachs, picking up where he left off last year, used his slashing style of play and laser-like shots to finish with four goals and two assists.

The most explosive goal of the night came from junior defenseman Caske Owen, who fired a rocket past the Spooner goalie from just inside the blue line while the crowd gasped to catch their collective breath. "Owen has a very heavy shot, said new Viking head coach Randy Gendreau. "The beauty of his shot is that he keeps it low and he is very accurate in his shot placement, hitting corners a lot of high school players are unable to do."

Junior forward Michael SantaBrigida and sophomore forward Calvin Miska each tallied two goals and two assists as part of a balanced scoring attack for the Vikings.

North Branch 5, Burnett (WI) 4 (O.T. Shootout)

In front of a standing room only crowd at the Lodge Center in Siren, the Vikings beat the Burnett Blizzard 5-4 in a shootout to win the tournament. Junior forward Michael SantaBrigida's goal put the Vikings ahead, and freshman goaltender Hunter Miska made the save on Burnett's final shootout attempt to give the Vikings the first tournament championship for the boys' hockey team in North Branch High School history. The Two Rivers Conference foes will meet two more times this season.

The Vikings killed off seven Blizzard power plays, including four five-on-threes. Even though Burnett had a huge power play advantage, the Vikings buzzed the net and outshot the Blizzard 49-39 for the game. Miska made 35 saves. "He stood on his head the entire night," said Viking head coach Randy Gendreau, "and shut down Burnett when we need him most. The remarkable thing is Hunter is so young and will get even better going forward. This is very scary to teams who will be facing this young and talented goalie for the next few years."

The Blizzard opened the scoring just one minute into the game with a power play tally that produced deafening cheers from the hometown crowd. Four minutes later, Jake Zengerle set up Jerrett Sachs with a needle-threading pass and Sachs beat the Burnett goalie to tie the game 1-1. Just three minutes later, junior forward Tommy Toohey used his size and strength to bulldoze his way to the net to notch his first goal of the season and put the Vikings up 2-1. The Blizzard fired back on a power play goal to tie the game at 2-2.

Senior captain Gavin Runberg used his blazing speed to score his first goal of the season and put the Vikings up 3-2. But the Blizzard scored again, and the teams went into the third period tied 3-3.

Sachs scored on a nice feed from Caske Owen just 51 seconds into the third period to give the Vikings a 4-3 lead. It looked like Sachs' goal was going to hold up as the game-winner, but the Blizzard tied it up with less than a minute left to send the game into overtime.

The Vikings killed off a Blizzard power play in overtime, helped by some big saves by goalie Hunter Miska. "This kid has 'game' and never gets rattled," said Gendreau. "I can't tell you how much outstanding goaltending means to our team, knowing we can count on Hunter when times get tough." After neither team scored in the eight-minute overtime, the game went into a three-man shootout.

Calvin Miska was the only one of three Viking shooters to score, but his brother Hunter shut down two of the three Blizzard shooters to keep the game tied and send it into a one-man shootout.

The Vikings went first, and SantaBrigida found the five hole to put the Vikings up by one. Burnett had one more chance to tie, but Hunter Miska stuffed the final shot to give the Vikings the win.

"My guys never once quit for the entire game," said Gendreau. "We played through adversity in front of a very vocal Burnett crowd. We accomplished our goal to win this tournament and we did it as a team. We have a long way to go, but we are on our way to a very exciting and what I feel will be a very successful season."

Senior captain Lane Noyes produced two goals and two assists the tournament. He put on quite a display with his speed, finesse and vision to electrify a packed house.

Of the Vikings 24 scheduled games this season, they will play just seven at home. Gendreau commented "we will need to take the hometown crowds out of the road games we play this season. I have implemented the discipline, accountability and 'team first' concept this we need to compete this season. My guys have bought into this 'team first' concept and have excelled thus far."

The Vikings kick off their conference schedule with a home opener against Mora December 12th at 8:10 p.m. at Chisago Lakes Arena. Gendreau said "The opener will be our first youth night of the season. NBYHA members gain free entry with the donation of a canned food for the North Branch food shelf. We will also have the North Branch pep band present as well to rock the building. I have heard our Pep Band is very good and we are honored to have them in attendance."

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