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Henry Sibley 4, North Branch 0

The Vikings were their own worst enemy against Henry Sibley. They gave Sibley ten power play opportunities and failed to score on a five-minute man advantage of their own. It all added up to a 4-0 shutout loss to the Warriors at home last Thursday, December 2 at Chisago Lakes Arena.

Just six minutes into the first period, the Vikings' Cole Lee was knocked out of the game with a knee injury on a vicious hit by Sibley's Buddy Napier. Napier received a five minute major and a game misconduct for checking from behind. But the Vikings not only failed to score on the five-minute advantage, they took a penalty of their own with two minutes, left, negating the advantage.

Sibley's Jake Lempelius had a hat trick by the middle of the second period, with two of his three goals coming on the power play. The Warriors added an empty-netter with less than two minutes remaining to seal the win over the Vikings.

"Five-on-five, my guys can play," said Viking head coach Randy Gendreau. "We are not the type of team that can give our opponents 20 minutes worth of power plays and still expect to win. And taking three penalties when you are on power plays is inexcusable. We got blanked 4-0 by a team we skated with."

Mora 10, North Branch 3

The Mora Mustangs put up ten goals in a Two River Conference clash against the reeling Vikings Tuesday, December 7 at Mora Arena, beating the Vikings 10-3 to extend the Viking losing streak to four games.

Ryan Mohar scored in the first period for the Vikings, assisted by Zach Fairbanks. Fairbanks also picked up an assist on Tanner Danks' power play goal in the third period. Calvin Miska scored the Vikings' third goal, assisted by Tommy Toohey, with less than a minute left in the game.

Penalties played a part in the outcome of this one, as the Vikings had two of their power play opportunities negated by taking penalties of their own. But the Vikings' inexperience was the main culprit in this one. They only have returning players from last season on the varsity and are still learning how to play at the varsity level. Said Viking head coach Randy Gendreau "It takes all five players on the ice to work together as a team to execute our game plan and that has not happened as of yet this season. We have eighty percent of our regular season games left to get this right and make the corrections. We will work very hard at practice to accomplish this as a team and I'm confident we will get it right."

Simley 4, North Branch 3 (O.T.)

The Viking boys' hockey team lost a heartbreaker as Simley scored just over one minute into overtime to beat the Vikings in front of a packed house last Friday, December 10 at Chisago Lakes Arena. It was North Branch Hockey Association Youth Night and the competing teams did not disappoint all who attended.

The Vikings got things start just five minutes into the first period with an unassisted goal by Calvin Miska. Miska fired a wrist shot from just inside the blue line that handcuffed the Simley goalie as it went into the upper right corner of the net to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead. Simley tied the game on a power play goal a few minutes later. Later in the period, Viking defenseman Tommy Toohey took advantage of a Simley miscue in their zone and fired a low missile that beat the Simley goalie to his glove side. Assistant coach Ralph Norrgard said "Tommy has a rocket and the beauty of his shot is he keeps it low and hits the net a good percentage of the time." But Simley answered again, scoring with less than a minute left in the period to tie the game at 2-2.

Toohey scored his second goal of the game just 40 seconds into the second period. He put on a coast to coast display of speed and power, fighting off two huge hits to get to the net and put the puck away to put the Vikings back on top at 3-2. Mike SantaBrigida and Calvin Miska picked up assists on the play. The Vikings held the lead until just under four minutes remained in the third period, when Simley scored another power play goal to tie the game at 3-3 and send it into the ill-fated overtime.

Penalties again proved to be the Vikings undoing, as they took nine penalties to Simley's four and gave up two power play goals. "We do a good job taking the body," said Viking head coach Randy Gendreau, "but the hands to the face, elbowing and high sticking penalties have to stop or it's going to be a long season, skating on a penalty kill a third of every game."

But as the Viking losing streak reached five games, Gendreau saw some reasons for optimism. He said "I was pleased with our effort as a team. I feel we have turned the corner. We have played very good teams thus far this season and the experience of playing better teams will pay off soon for us. We went down fighting tonight. I couldn't ask any more from my guys. One win in six games is not where we wanted to be at this juncture, but at the end of a game if each player can say they did their best, good things will happen to those players. And I have a locker room full of those guys."

The Vikings play the Burnet Blizzard this Saturday, December 18 at 3 p.m. at Lodge Center Arena in Siren, Wisconsin. They return home to take on Highland Park Monday, December 20 at 8 p.m. at Chisago Lakes Arena.

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