Strong PK, three-goal second period lift Simon Fraser to road win over UVic

The University of Victoria were welcomed by cheers from their fans, and by the Vikes' mascot, Thunder, at their best-attended hockey game to-date on Friday. But ultimately, the hosts dropped a 6-2 decision to the Clan at the Ian Stewart Complex.

“I thought it was great having such a great fan base out tonight,” said Vikes forward Thomas Cecchi. “It really helps us get ready for the game off the start and it’s huge for us as a team to have that many people come out and show support.”

“It was awesome tonight,” said Harry Schamhart, head coach for the Vikes. “I’ve been coaching this team for nine years and it was really nice to see Vikes Nation get behind this hockey club and it was nice to have this many UVic students in the arena tonight. It’s just too bad we didn’t win for them.”

The Vikes took an early lead in the game as Dylan Hykawy slipped the puck through the legs of SFU goaltender Jordan Liem. But although the Vikes started strong, they were unable to keep it up as a net-front turnover found the stick of Graham Smerek, who pounced to knot the score at 1-1 after 20 minutes.

SFU took the lead in the second period when Mathew Berry-Lamontagna scored SFU’s second goal, and the Clan quickly followed up with additional goals from Trent Murdoch and Jared Eng.

The fans continued to show their support to their home team when Hykawy scored his second goal for the Vikes, making it 4-2 by the end of the second period.

Jono Ceci brought the Clan up another two goals in the third period, making the final score 6-2 for SFU.

“It’s always nice to get the goal insurance,” Ceci said. “A two goal lead isn’t a big one, especially since in this small rink there are a lot of chances, so getting an extra goal or two definitely helped.”

The Clan did an exceptional job keeping the Vikes at bay with their penalty kill.

“They had a lot of power plays in the third period,” said Ceci. “Our PK did a really good job of shutting them down.”

With the win, the Clan moves up to 12 points and takeover second place in the BCIHL standings and UVIC falls back into a third place tie with Selkirk College with 11 points.

Cecchi expressed a different view on the PK.

“I feel like at certain times when we were down by one or two goals that our power play didn’t click as it needed to and that was key to part of the loss tonight,” he said. “I don’t think we played how we’re used to playing.”

“The team’s going to want a lot more effort out of everybody at tomorrow’s game. I feel like we’re going to come out really hard especially after a loss on a Friday night. The boys are going to want the win that much harder.”

“We didn’t execute our game plan tonight and we basically got outworked,” said Schamhart. “Hopefully our team will come and be more prepared and ready to work hard and try to outwork the other team in the next game.”

UVic and SFU will drop the puck for the second game at 12:30 on Saturday, November 22 at the Ian Stewart Complex. The game broadcast is available live at fasthockey.com.