Varsity ice hockey defeated the Wootton Patriots 6-2, Jan. 22, improving to 8-1 on the season.

Wootton entered the game in first place in the league at an undefeated 8-0 while the Vikes trailed by only two points in the standings, tied with Churchill. The team also wanted revenge after the Patriots knocked them out of the playoffs last season.

The Patriots struck first with a goal eight and a half minutes into the first period. However, four minutes later, paptain Zach Wolfe scored off of a pass from Jon Domingos.

The teams entered the second period tied 1-1.

The beginning of the second period was slow for both teams, but the Vikings picked up their intensity and scored four consecutive goals in a span of just five minutes. Seth Butler started the run with a goal on a power play while Daniel Berman, Nick Girard and Lucas Karron each scored as well, putting the Vikings up 5-1.

The Patriots scored another goal just thirty seconds after Karron’s, but the Vikings finished the Patriots off with another goal in the final period from Butler.

Although the Vikings had only given up six goals before the game, giving up two to Wootton was respectable, considering the Patriots had scored 74 goals this season leading up to this game. The Vikes defense only allowed the Patriots 14 shots, while the offense produced 36 shots on goal.

The Vikings also led in penalties, only committing seven compared to Wootton’s ten.

“This game was huge for us. We needed to beat them if we wanted to have the one seed for playoffs,”  forward Jake Berk said. “We knew what we needed to do and we did it.”

With a victory over the top seed, the Vikes are now on top of the division. Although Wootton has the same record, Whitman has the upper hand in the tiebreaker.

“We didn’t change our gameplan much. We had to respect them because of who they are but we just played our normal game,” defender Mikey Stevens said. “The win has made us realize that we can go very deep into the state tournament, but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.”

The Vikings will play two more regular season games before entering the playoffs; one against Walter Johnson and another against Damascus. The Vikes are expected to put away both teams with ease and enter the playoffs with the first seed.