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North Branch 6, Princeton 1
The Vikings, currently ranked ninth in the state, did a lot of their damage on special teams against the Princeton Tigers, going three for five on the power play and scoring a shorthanded goal on their way to a 6-1 win Thursday, December 5 at Chisago Lakes Arena.  The Tigers edged the Vikings in shots on goal, 37-35, but goalie Jake Turek stopped 36 of the 37 shots he faced to help the Vikings to a comfortable win.  Tucker Sachs and Cody Croal had two goals apiece for the Vikings.

Princeton got a lot of shots on net early in the first period, but Turek stood tall and shut them down.  At almost exactly the halfway point of the period, the slow-starting Vikings picked up just their second shot on goal.  But they made it count as Sachs scored his first goal of the game, assisted by Ben Huth and Dawson Johnson, to put the Vikings up 1-0.  Three minutes later, with the Vikings on the power play, Joran Axberg sent a past to Croal at the center point.  Croal fired a wrister through all of the traffic and into the back of the net for a 2-0 Viking lead.  At 9:21 of the second period, with the Vikings on a power play, Axberg took a shot from the right point.  Huth, in mid-slot, tipped the puck past the goalie to increase the Viking lead to 3-0.  Johnson also picked up an assist on the play.  But the Tigers got that one back just 22 seconds later to cut the lead back down to two.

The Vikings responded three minutes later.  Croal carried the puck into the Tiger zone with Matt Dekanick trailing.  As Croal closed in on the net, he tapped the puck to Dekanick, who shot the puck into the net to restore the three-goal Viking lead.  Joey Kerchner also received an assist.  And with the Vikings skating shorthanded with two-and-a-half minutes left in the second period, Sachs scored with sheer individual effort.  Forechecking in the right corner, he got a hold of the puck, skated in and around three Princeton players to the right side of the net just outside the top of the crease and ripped a shot into the upper left corner to make it 5-1.
Princeton started the third period on the power play and a quick goal could have let them think they still had a shot to pull this one out.  A Princeton player had the puck to the right of the Viking net and appeared ready to shoot as Turek tightly hugged the right post.  But the player passed the puck to a teammate standing wide open about ten feet straight out from the right post.  The Princeton player redirected the puck toward the net for what looked like an easy goal.  But Turek had somehow anticipated the pass, slid across and just got his skate on the puck, knocking it aside and keeping the lead at four.  And midway through the third period on another Viking power play, Croal took a pass from Kerchner.  He skated to the middle of the right circle and sniped a shot into the upper left corner of the net to push the Viking lead to 6-1.

Viking head coach Matt Cunningham said “Jake’s big save early in the third period really was a game-changer.  The worst part of it is that we didn’t play all that well in this game.  We just weren’t disciplined enough.  But we had more skill and the best goaltender.  We still have a lot of things to work on.”
 
North Shore 3, North Branch 2
With the Vikings down 2-0 to North Shore after the second period, Dawson Johnson scored twice early in the third to tie the game at 2-2.  Tucker Sachs and Lawton Garin each picked up an assist. But with just under four minutes left in the game, North Shore dumped the puck into the Vikings zone, went after it hard and scored to take the lead.  The Vikings pulled the goalie at the end, but North Shore hung on for the win.  The game was played Saturday, December 7 at Chisago Lakes Arena.

Viking head coach Matt Cunningham said, “We were screwing up even in warmups.  We were up 11-0 in shots at one point in the first period, but after that we got outworked.  We took too many penalties.  We were zero for three on the power play.  It was a very frustrating game.  Hopefully, it’s a good wakeup call for us.  At the end, North Shore celebrated like they had knocked off a top ten team.  Which they had  Our guys weren’t even sure what had hit them yet.  But we haven’t lost two in a row in two years, so I am confident we will bounce back.  It was a tie against North Shore that woke us up last year and hopefully that happens again with this loss.”

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