Entering The Home Stretch
Temperatures in Bellingham have dropped into the single digits in the midst of a recent cold snap. Without precipitation, though, the conditions reflect the past month for WWU’s Viking Hockey Club: no ice. Not just because the Bellingham Sportsplex is warmer than the world outside of it right now– players are glad to be back, and ready for their fill of home games to round out the latter part of the season.
It was inclement weather which also canceled the final pre-winter break series at Washington State University. The change in plans means the Vikings haven’t taken the ice since December 2, in a hard-fought series dropped to University of Utah. The team is preparing to take on a literal “home” stretch, a promising next month or so for Western’s chances in the upcoming PAC-8 playoffs. Broken up only by Jan. 19-20’s away series at the University of Idaho, WWU will play the remainder of their regular season at home.
This weekend’s series– with games on Sunday, January 14 and Monday, January 15 thanks to the long weekend– has Western Washington hosting Loyola Marymount University’s club. The LMU Lions are currently 1st in their division and ranked as the 4th best team in the ACHA West region. Bolstered with five point-per-game players, two goalies with winning records, and their current ticket to fight for a national championship playoff berth, the Lions will serve as a formidable foe over the next two days.
Continuing through the month of January and into February, WWU Hockey has their work more than cut out for them: the aforementioned away rematch with Idaho’s Vandals (where WWU last took a home series win with a whopping 17 goals); a back-to-back, four game stretch against the sharply-contrasted UC Berkeley (32 points in division standings) and UC San Diego (0 points). University of Washington’s Huskies will find themselves in Bellingham for a tense division matchup and the Vikings’ regular season finale– the first showcase of the rivalry this year after a series at UW was canceled. Western currently holds 7th place in the PAC 8 division; their performance in these games will not only secure their ticket to the PAC 8 playoffs beginning February 9, but their seeding in the first slate of games during the Championship.
The Vikings are face-to-face with a chaotic month, starting with puck drop against LMU on Sunday. Deprived of the game for a month and hungry to prove themselves, they likely don’t mind taking on the task.
STAT LEADERS THROUGH DECEMBER 2
Whatever the outcome of their season, it won’t happen in a vacuum. Goal and point leaders Bret Brumbaugh, Teddy Prior, and Kurtis Brumbaugh are each earning over a point per game while setting new records in personal stats during their WWU hockey stints.
GOALS
Bret Brumbaugh - 15
Teddy Prior - 11
Kurtis Brumbaugh - 9
T-4. Mitchell Brubacher - 5
T-4. Andrei Shapiro - 5
POINTS
Bret Brumbaugh - 28
Teddy Prior - 27
Kurtis Brumbaugh - 19
Mitchell Brubacher - 11
Patrick Pierson - 10
GOALTENDING
Edvin Sanders: 6-9 (5.31 GAA, 0.885 Home SV%)
Natalie Ballard
