Thunder finish a tough weekend with a loss to the Vikings

Edmonton, AB – The Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE) Thunder Men's Hockey team completed their first weekend of exhibition play with an overtime loss against the Augustana Viking. The play was consistently back and forth, but unfortunately many penalties by the Thunder resulted in a loss. 

The Thunder came out with something to prove in the first period. An exciting period consisted of 4 goals. Augustana lead the scoring with goals from #6 Jordan Mish and #4 Lane Kirk. The Thunder answered before the end of the period with two goals of their own from #23 Rory Davidson, and #7 Keegan Tiringer. Gaining an assist on the first goal was #9 Matt Benko, and the second goal was unassisted. After tying the game, the Thunder set the tone for the rest of the game with a scrum in front of the net that ended in a fight.  

After a heated first period the second period picked up even more momentum. There were five goals scored in the second period, resulting in a 5-4 lead for the Vikings. Concordia goals were scored by #19 Zachery Carlson and his second of the night, #7 Keegan Tringer. The Thunder were expected to have a big third period as they trailed at the end of the second. 

The third period was dominated by the Thunder outshooting the Vikings 19-8. The disciplined hard work of the Thunder resulted in another goal by #23 Rory Davidon assisted by #20 Austin Shellenberg and #17 Gabe Odowichisk. With the game tied up Thunder Goaltender, #31 Sam Visscher kept them in the game with a huge save at the 4-minute mark. Ultimitely holding the Viking to a 5-5 tie at the end of the third pushed the game into overtime. The Vikings needed 51 seconds of overtime to score the game winning goal and providing the Thunder with their second exhibition loss of the season. 

Thunder Head Coach Joey Bouchard commented after the game: "Discipline penalties got us into trouble. Penalty killers played a really good game. Our third period was really, really solid. We played more five on five, played hard took it to them. I give credit to the character group who played hard in the third and credit to penalty killers. We have a big week of practice as we prepare for two big games next week." 

Charlie Gawlicki a forward for the Concordia Thunder also commented after the game saying "Our penalty kill worked hard. We have to stay out of the box and keep it five on five. It was a hard fought game both ways, but we have to find a way to finish it and not let the opponent hang around."

The Thunder continue their exhibition schedule with a rematch against Augustana on Friday October 29, 2021 with puck drop at 7:00 pm MST. Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions fans can catch the game on ACACTV.ca