By Kurt Kavanaugh
The North Shore Vikings' ice hockey team gained a dramatic come-from-behind victory against Baldwin on Feb. 9, scoring the tying and winning goal in the final two minutes of the game. Nick Moon scored his second hat trick of the season for the Vikings as they outscored Baldwin 5-4 to register their fourth victory of the season.
Throughout the first half of the game the two teams were evenly matched. Both teams played strong defense as the game remained scoreless until late in the second period. It was Baldwin that appeared to score first but the goal was disallowed because the referee ruled that one of their players had entered the North Shore goal crease before the puck. A minute later the Vikings broke the deadlock with a goal that counted. With North Shore on a power play their leading scorer Nick Moon jabbed in the rebound of his own shot. Gabe Slutsky and Adam Gonthier assisted on the play. Baldwin came right back to tie the game less than a minute later on a goal that was scored while the Vikings net was slightly off its moorings. This time the goal was allowed to stand despite the protests of Viking captain Alan Abi Ziad and goalie Teagh Sandhu. North Shore reclaimed the lead two minutes later as Vlad Klestov scored his third goal of the season on a one-timer from the low slot. John Peet made a beautiful pass from the point to set up the goal.
Baldwin found new life at the beginning of the third period, scoring three goals in the first five minutes to take a 4-2 lead. Zimmerman scored two of the goals for Baldwin: his first came on a scramble in front and was assisted by Gertler; the second came on a backhand with the assist going to Carmen. Haynes completed the scoring barrage for Baldwin when he scored on a slap shot from the blue line while Baldwin was on the power play. Fehrer assisted on the goal, and Baldwin appeared to have blown open what had previously been a very close game.
But North Shore refused to quit and came storming back to score three goals of their own. Nick Moon started things off when he tucked in the rebound of his own wrap around attempt. Then with only 1:56 remaining in the game Moon scored his third goal of the game and his second hat trick of the season to tie the game. The goal came as North Shore enjoyed a five-on-three man power advantage. With Fehrer still in the penalty box the Vikings continued to swarm the Baldwin net even after they tied the game. Abi Ziad had two good slap shots from the point that both tested Baldwin's goalie as North Shore mounted intense pressure in the final minute of the game. Finally, John Peet dug the puck lose and fed it to senior Gabe Slutsky behind the net who scored on a wrap around with 36 seconds left in the game to seal the Viking victory.