By Steve Morris

The Vikings left their defensive game on the bus as the boys hockey team surrendered to Pine City/Rush City on the road 9-1 Dec. 12.

The Dragons struck first blood, scoring six seconds into the game and North Branch was unable to fully recovery from the early score.

Junior forward Tyler Sowka got his first career varsity goal to help the Vikings avoid the shutout.

Assisting on the play were Levi Disrud and J.T Lindholm.

Without skipping a beat, North Branch traveled south on Dec. 15 and fell to Minneapolis West 8-3.

Senior Alex Nelson notched the first goal of the game after he tapped in a rebound from a shot from Aaron Cedergren.

The second period was a nightmare for North Branch as Minneapolis West scored four goals in the period and took a controlling 6-1 lead.

Lindholm netted his second goal of the season. Assisting the goal was Anthony Zengerle and Jake Lenards.

In the 8-3 loss, Nicole Bredahl had 45 saves on 53 shots.

Capping off a busy week, the Vikings skated in their first North Suburban Conference match up of the season and first home game of the season. The Vikings were unable to keep the Hawks at bay and lost 6-1.

At the end of the first period the Vikings were down 2-1, despite an 11-7 shot advantage by Cooper.

North Branch couldn't contain an explosive Cooper offensive which opened the second period with back to back goals.

Scoring the lone goal for the Vikings was Lindholm, who scored on a pass from from Disrud.

Bredhal had 29 saves on 35 shots for the game. Disrud extended his point streak to seven games, running his point total to nine points.