Hykawy's hat trick leads Vikes to wild Saturday victory over Simon Fraser

The University of Victoria bounced back from a Friday night home loss to Simon Fraser University, topping the Clan by a 6-4 score in the rematch at the Ian Stewart Complex on Saturday.

Right from the opening faceoff it seemed that SFU had the advantage, but the Vikes responded quickly and took control of the play when Cole Conway scored the first goal of the game ten minutes into the period. Minutes later, the lead was doubled by defenseman Dylan Hykawy, who notched a power-play goal after Matthew Berry-Lamontangna landed himself a four-minute high sticking double-minor.

Later in the first period Thomas Cecchi gave the Vikes a 3-0 lead, but with 46 seconds left in the period the Clan's Adam Callegari put the visitors on the board to close the first.

The second period was relatively uneventful save for an SFU goal by Berry- Lamontagna right off an offesnive zone draw. The rest of the period was an exercise in goaltending for SFU netminder Andrew Parent, who stopped all 17 shots registered in that period. Shots on goal were in favour of the Vikes at 34-16.

The third period is where things started to heat up. The game got physical fast as both teams started to get under each other’s skin. The antics did not stop Hykawy from scoring a hat-trick, as he netted his second goal of the game, and then a third, this time a short handed empty netter with under three minutes to play.

The Vikes ran into some penalty trouble late in the game, with even goaltender Nick Babich ending up with a penalty. This resulted in two SFU power-play goals scored in quick succession by Nick Sandor and Taylor Piller, but it was UVic who had the last word with yet another empty net goal, this time from Adam Klein with one second left.

The final tally for shots on goal was 38-31 for UVic.

“Overall, it was a better team effort than last night,” said Vikes head coach Harry Schamhart. “It really showed the character of the team.”

When asked about the penalty trouble near the end of the game Schamhart added, “It was lack of discipline that was the big issue. The players need to stay focused and get the job done, not worry about the officials.”

The Vikes are on the road again this weekend, this time travelling to Castlegar to play against the Selkirk Saints (5-5-0) on Saturday at 7:00 PM and Sunday at 12:00 PM.