Tough Loss at Home to Visiting Vikings

EDMONTON, AB - JANUARY 12, 2019

On Saturday night, the Thunder hosted the Augustana Vikings for their first home game of 2019 where the Vikings would take the win 5-4 in a physical battle that went right down to the wire. 

Concordia found themselves in a tough spot early on as defensemen #14 Jakob Lavoie was awarded a game misconduct and a major penalty for a check to the head on #28 Lukas Biensch which led to two power play goals from #17 Adam Osczevski for the Vikings. 

The Thunder responded well to the early deficite by scoring two short handed goals from #21 Tyler Benko and #39 Romano Morrison. The Vikings outshot the Thunder 9-7 in the first period however the sore remained 2-2 after one. 

The second period opened up with some intensity once again, this time it was the Thunder striking first with a power play goal from #37 Phil Dillon. The Vikings were quick to respond as #51 Jimmy Sheehan was able to even it up with another power play goal for the Vikings. Thunder's #37 Phil Dillon found the back of the net once more midway through the second period to give the Thunder the 4-3 lead. Offensive pressure continued throughout the second period for Concordia as they outshot the Vikings 13-8 and would head into the locker room up by one.

Penalty troubles continued to haunt the Thunder in the third period and at 16:55 #16 Evan Warmington for the Vikings tied the game up 4-4 on the power play. The Vikings used this offensive momentum to their advantage and took the lead with 7:47 to go with a goal from #25 Reed Gunville. The Thunder failed to capitalize on a power play opportunity at the 6 minute mark and could not find the equalizer with a last minute effort. The Vikings would hold on for the 5-4 victory on the road.

Vikings goaltender #31 Curtis Skip stopped 25 of 29 shots he faced and was awarded the win. Between the pipes for the Thunder was #30 Tanner McCorriston who stopped 25 of the 30 shots he faced. 

The player of the game for the Augustana Vkings was #17 Adam Osczevski (2G) and for the Concordia Thunder was #21 Tyler Benko (1G, 1A).