Saints dominate early, survive late in wild road victory over Victoria

Selkirk College took a commanding lead early but had to hold on late, as their five first period goals accounted for most of the damage in a 7-6 road win over the University of Victoria at the Ian Stewart Complex on Friday.

Dallas Goodwin opened the scoring for the visitors less than two minutes after puck drop, and Garrett Hilton doubled the lead 1:59 later. The Vikes struck for a pair of quick goals as Keenan Eddy and Kenny Britton struck 1:51 apart midway through the frame, but a Dylan Heppler power-play tally restored momentum for the Saints. Blake Sidoni and Nolan Percival extended the Selkirk lead to three before intermission.

The Vikes rallied in the second period, however, as Callum Volpe scored on the man advantage 49 seconds in. David Stickney made it 5-4 soon after, and the hosts took the lead when a pair of Eddies -- Keenan Eddy and Eddie May -- scored 56 seconds apart. A wild period got even more crazy though, as it took Selkirk less than 90 seconds to rebound and tie the game, as captain Parker Wakaruk capitalized off a feed from Heppler on a Saints power-play.

The scoring settled down in the third, with Heppler netting his second of the night before Selkirk netminder Tallon Kramer shut the door on a possible Vikes comeback.

Heppler, Sidoni and Eddy all finished the game with three points, while four Saints and three Vikes netted a pair in the 13-goal game.

Kramer picked up the win with 23 saves on a night where he started, was pulled after two goals, then came back in relief of Jared Breitkreuz after he was beaten for four goals in the second period. Tyler Rennie took the loss after coming in midway through the first for Niall Murphy.

The Saints will look to keep their momentum going on Saturday night when they travel to Nanaimo to face VIU, while the Vikes will wait to host the Mariners next Friday night.