Vikings’ roll down to san jose

Photo Courtesy: Emily Peterson

The Vikings’ took care of business this past weekend with back-to-back wins over USC to open up the 2023-24 campaign.

Friday’s 7-5 victory was a display of the Vikings’ newly named captains, as forward Teddy Prior ‘s hat-trick performance and goaltender Edvin Sanders’ 33-save effort helped to lift the squad to victory.

“Lots of speed and timing.” Prior when asked about his ability to create space and make plays, “My teammates help me out a lot, they make a lot of space for me. I couldn’t do it without them.”

Saturday’s matchup proved to be more tight, as USC tied the game midway through the third period. But the Brumbaugh brothers find a way yet again, combining for four points on the night including the late game-winning goal from Bret, sealing the 5-4 victory and the weekend sweep over the Trojans.

First-year players also contributed to the offensive successes on the weekend, with Andrei Shapiro and Declan Quinn each tallying their first goals at Western. Head coach Adam Segaar didn’t shy away from talking about his new wave of players post game on Saturday, “The rookie core stepped up big time, I was really impressed by all of them.”

Segaar also praised his teams’ overall tenacity and strength they put in, allowing them to pull away, “All of them stepped up. They came out with a heart. They gave it all.”

Western heads down to San Jose State to take on the Spartans for a pair of games this weekend, starting Friday at 9:30pm, then finishing off on Saturday at 10:00pm.

Stream this weekend’s games for free on Black Dog Hockey: https://www.bdehockey.com/home.php

For Vikings’ stats and PAC-8 standings: https://www.achahockey.org/stats/player-stats/376/34?division=-1&playertype=skater&position=skaters&rookie=no&sort=name&statstype=standard&page=1&league=1

Cameron Riggers