The Portland State hockey club split victories with the Idaho Vandals in a two-game series at Portland’s Memorial Coliseum last weekend.
The Vikings (4-8) opened the series with a 6-1 victory Saturday night, but the Vandals (2-7) fought tooth-and-nail to even the series with a 9-6 decision Sunday afternoon.
The two clubs, both members of the American Collegiate Hockey League, took to the ice at the Coliseum following the Portland Winterhawks’ victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds, and Portland State kept the winning theme going for the Rose City.
The Vikings began the scoring in the opening period with goals from forward Tucker Dougherty and Stephen Printup for a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period.
Idaho cut PSU’s lead in half with an early goal in the second period, but back-to-back Viking goals from Steven Eibert and Dougherty within 18 seconds of each other kept the momentum, and scoreboard, favoring PSU. Printup scored his second goal of the game one minute before the second intermission to give the Vikings a 5-1 lead at the break.
The lone goal of the third period, shot by PSU’s Jesse Bush at 1:26 into the period, gave the Vikings the 6-1 lead that they held until the final buzzer.
In contrast to Saturday’s one-sided game, Sunday was a back-and-forth battle. PSU took an early lead with goals from Eibert and Anthony Libonati in the opening minutes, but four unanswered Idaho goals turned the tables on the Vikings.
Libonati and Eibert again provided a pair of goals in the closing minutes to tie the score at 4-all at the first intermission, but Idaho outscored the Vikings in the second period to take a 6-5 lead over PSU.
The teams traded goals in the first half of the third period, but the Vikings were unable to regain control of the game and Idaho sealed the victory with two more goals in the final minutes to end the contest with a 9-6 victory.
Over the series, the teams were fairly balanced in shots on goal. The Vikings led 45-39 on Saturday, and on Sunday each team registered 42.
Portland State plays on the road this weekend against Walla Walla before returning to the Rose City for a two-game series with Santa Rosa Junior College on Feb. 5–6. ?