Since the league rescheduled this game to Sunday afternoon, the Squirrels knew they would have a short bench reminiscent of last summer. Nine players showed up, but the Vikings had a few more substitutes, which made much of the difference in their 4-2 victory.

The Squirrels held their own for almost two periods, leading 2-1 up until the final moments of the second period. This was despite playing the first few minutes with six total skaters and no goaltender, and not getting a third substitute until almost two-thirds of the way through the game.

Midway through the first period, Ed Bager got the scoring started as he tapped in a pass from Matt Borlik off the face-off. The Vikings tied the game soon after. In the second period, Tony Richelson found himself on the breakaway, streaked across the middle and put the Squirrels up by one.

Late in the second period, the Vikings tied the game off of a fluke knuckler after the puck dropped for the face-off in the Squirrels’ zone. Less than a minute later, they scored again to take the lead, then scored once more in the final frame. Despite being short of breath, the Squirrels staged a final flurry but couldn’t score again.

Borlik, Bager, Phil Van der Vossen, Ben Sumner, Don Marks, Charles Wolstein, Desmond Richelson, Tony Richelson, and Drew Thiemann played for the Squirrels, who dropped to 11-5-1 on the season. The Squirrels outshot the Vikings, 21-14.

The next game is Thursday, March 9, at 10:30 against Dog Star in Resor.

It wasn’t until halfway through the second period Sunday when the Squirrels started their comeback. Down 3-1, they scored four unanswered goals to take the lead, then added another in the third period and held on for a 6-5 victory against the Vikings.

Jon Magi got the scoring started in the first period with a shot from the left blue line. The Squirrels then took two overlapping penalties, giving the Vikings a two-man advantage for 45 seconds. While the Squirrels initially kept the pressure on, they got caught deep and the Vikings capitalized twice in the last two minutes of the first period.

The Vikings scored again in the second period, and five minutes later the Squirrels took over. Playing in his first game since the summer season ended, Juan Canchasto scored to cut the lead to 3-2. Four minutes later, the Viking’s goaltender gave up a rebound off of Canchasto’s shot, and Ben Sumner hit the spinning puck into tie the game. Don Marks scored the next two goals in the next minute and a half, taking one coast-to-coast and slapping in another off the faceoff to put the Squirrels ahead by two.

The Vikings cut the Squirrels lead to one a third of the way through the third period. With a little less than three minutes remaining, Magi scored from nearly the exact same position as his first goal, with a similar shot. Down by two again, the Vikings rushed the net and scored, giving themselves one last opportunity with a minute remaining. The Squirrels held on.

Tony Richelson, Desi Richelson, Ed Bager, Rob Myers, Greg Wenograd and Chris Long missed the game for the Squirrels. Drew Thiemann made 22 saves in net. The Squirrels used two lines of forwards with an extra winger, and four defensemen.

The next game is Sunday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. against the Maryland Mutineers in Logsdon.

The Screaming Squirrels opened our first full season of Hockey North America play by skating to a 5-5 tie with the Vikings. The scoring was back and forth with the Vikings taking a lead with just over 2 minutes remaining in the game. With just over a minute to go, the Squirrels took their time out, and with less than a minute remaining pulled the goalie. With only 17 ticks left on the clock, Adam Hughes took a shot off the pass from Don Marks and the rebound caromed up into the air. Greg Wenograd and Juan Canchasto were waiting in front of the crease as the puck came down, and Juan was able to put it in the back of the net. The Screaming Squirrels then skated a 5 minute, running clock, overtime with the Vikings and tied their first game while wearing the new road jerseys.