Second Period Explosion Leads Thunder Over Vikings

EDMONTON, AB (January 14, 2021) – The Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE) Thunder continued their regular season as they welcomed the Augustana Vikings to the Clareview Community Recreation Centre Friday night. Lead by their penalty kill and a four goal second period, the Thunder cruised to a 6-1 win.

The Thunder opened the scoring 1:19 into the game as #14 Rylan Nivon found the back of the net to get things going early for Concordia. The Thunder kept the pressure on for most of the first period, but Augustana goalie Daniel Moody was able to keep them at bay. The pressure finally got through, however, as #13 Tristan Gagnon flew down the left wing and went top shelf for his first career ACAC goal and to double the Thunder lead at 2-0 with 34 seconds left in the period. The score stood at 2-0 heading into the first intermission.

The Thunder penalty kill was the story of the second period, as they not only killed off four Augustana power plays, but also chipped in two shorthanded goals from Rory Davidson and Charlie Gawlicki. Tyler Benko added a power play goal, Keegan Tiringer found the back of the net, and Griffin Bowerman made 13 saves in the period to give the Thunder a 6-0 lead heading into the second intermission.

Augustana found the net early in the third period, as Jarod Hovde ruined Bowerman's shutout bid to make it a 6-1 game. Both defenses locked in after that, as the rest of the third period turned into a tight checking, back and forth affair with both goalies standing their ground. The 6-1 score line would hold to be the final score, as the Thunder solidified themselves in first place in the ACAC. The One Team Sports Players of the Game were #96 Jarod Hovde for the Vikings and #23 Rory Davidson for the Thunder.

After the game Thunder Head Coach Joey Bouchard commented: "I thought we played our best game of the season. We played a full 60 minutes, we stayed even keel, we rolled all four lines and all six defencemen. It's a good convincing win and I think it gives us a bit of momentum going into NAIT next weekend." Fifth year forward Rory Davidson also commented after the game on his team's big win: "The boys played hard and we stuck to the system. They're a hard forechecking team but we were able to work it and hopefully we can continue this into next weekend."

Concordia returns to action next weekend for a huge home and home with the NAIT Ooks with massive standings implications. The Thunder look to pull away further from the Ooks, while NAIT is looking to close the gap in the standings. Friday's puck drop is at 7 pm at the NAIT Arena, while Saturday's game is hosted by Concordia also with a 7 pm puck drop. All the action can be caught on ACACTV.ca!