Vikings Men's Hockey will hit the ice in a best of three quarterfinal series vs the SAIT Trojans

After a competitive regular season, the Vikings Men's Hockey team will head into the quarterfinal playoff round against the SAIT Trojans this weekend.

Finishing the season with a strong 4-3 win over the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings last Saturday, the Vikings took fifth place in the ACAC standings and will take on the fourth seated SAIT Trojans in a three-game series that kicks off on Friday in Calgary before returning to Camrose for a Saturday afternoon clash.

"Our goal all year was to trust the process of developing as a team and to ultimately be playing our best hockey for when playoffs arrived," said head coach Tim Green. "Even though at the start of the season we were not getting the results we wanted I knew deep down that this team could compete with anyone in the league and we started to prove that in the last few weeks of the season." 

And proving that they could compete with the league's best was on display down the backstretch of the season as they had a 5-3-3-0 regular-season record since January 14th. During that stretch they collected 13 points and battled toe-to-toe with league powerhouse the NAIT Ooks (15-1-0-0), losing 3-2 on February 18th and losing 2-1 in overtime on February 19th.

"Adversity hit at times during the year and I love that way this team handled it and has shown growth and character. I believe we are peaking at the right time and as long as the players continue to play the right way and believe in the process I know that we can find success in the postseason," added Green. "It's the best time of the year and we couldn't be more excited to get started on Friday!" 

The Vikings will take to the ice on the road at SAIT Friday night before returning home for game two at 3:00pm at Encana Arena.

Season Match-up

Both the Trojans and the Vikings met three times this season with the Trojans getting the better of the Vikings winning the season series 2-1. 

In their first meeting on November 19th, 2021, the Trojans took the win, 5-3 as Ethan Schmunk tallied a hat trick in the win.

Having to wait until February 11th, 2022 to take to the ice again, the Vikings showed great improvement, winning 4-2 at Encana Arena as Daniel Moody backstopped the team with 40 saves on the night.

Less than 24 hours later, the two teams met again in Calgary with SAIT taking the win, 5-2 led by Joren Patenaude's two-goal effort. 

Weekend Line-up

 *Tickets for Vikings Hockey home games can be purchased at the door (cash only). Attendees are expected to screen for symptoms of COVID-19 before arriving at the venue. You can find a list of symptoms at the following AHS website: https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/topics/Page17260.aspx

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