Vikings women’s ice hockey loses quarterfinal playoff series

Last weekend saw the Vikings women’s ice hockey team travel to Adrian, Mich. to compete against the Adrian College Bulldogs. The series took place on Friday, Feb. 24 and Saturday, Feb. 25 at the Arrington Ice Arena, and was the quarterfinals of the Northern College Hockey Association playoffs. Unfortunately for the Vikings, these matches would mark the end of their season, as they lost both games.  

The Vikings went into Friday’s match as the clear underdogs. They had played the Bulldogs six times since the inception of the Lawrence’s women’s ice hockey team in 2020, but had yet to win a game against them. In addition, the Vikings had never scored a goal against Adrian College. Sadly, this trend would continue with this series’ opener. The first part of the opening period was tense, with no goals being scored, partially thanks to Lawrence’s first-year goaltender Chasity Anderson. Halfway through the period, however, the Bulldogs pulled a quick lead by scoring twice in a span of less than a minute and a half. They continued this momentum into the second period, showing why they were the clear favorites, as they scored four more goals in the first seven minutes. Adrian College players coasted into the third period after slipping two more pucks past Lawrence’s defense in the second. The final score was 10-0, with the Bulldogs shutting out the Vikings and getting one step closer to the semifinals. While Lawrence had nine shots on the goal throughout the game, Adrian College had 65. This cemented Anderson as the standout player of the match, as she made 39 saves for the Vikings. 

The second and final game in the series was played the next day, and saw the Vikings women’s ice hockey team’s chances of making it to the semifinals become nonexistent. Although Lawrence players had a good showing, and sophomore goaltender Charlie Prior had an amazing game, it was not enough to score any points against the Bulldogs. Adrian College was consistent, scoring two goals in the opening period, and two in the second period. They wrapped up the game with another goal in the last thirty seconds, bringing the score to 5-0. This solidified the Bulldogs’ place in the semifinals of the NCHA playoffs. Like the series opener, the Lawrence goaltenders once again showed up and showed out, with Prior making a career-high 64 saves out of Adrian College’s 69 shots on the goal throughout the game. She blocked 21 shots in the opening period, 20 in the second and 23 in the final period.  

Vikings women’s ice hockey wrapped up their season with two wins, 14 losses, and no ties within the conference. Including both conference and non-conference games, they had three wins, 24 losses and no ties.