NORTH Wilts Vikings, the county’s only junior inline puck hockey club, saw its under 16 team roar up the GB Hockey Inline Southern League at the weekend.
The Vikings won both of their fixtures at the Lord Roberts Centre, Bisley to climb to fourth in the standings halfway through the season.
The team, primarily made up of youngsters from Swindon and Chippenham, were missing five players for their first clash with Guildford Storm, but were heartened by a goal by James Townsend inside 30 seconds, they went further ahead when debutant Matt Baxter finished off a good passing move.
Storm responded quickly to get back on level terms but Baxter found space to score his second goal and edge Vikings 3-2 ahead at half-time.
Mike Hale replaced Duncan Morton as netminder for the second period and Vikings continued to press forward without reward until Matt Powell combined with Mike Barton to score the first of two goals in a minute.
Vikings pulled further ahead on the powerplay with Powell completing his hat-trick. The hardworking Barton finally got himself on the scoresheet with just under five minutes remaining.
Storm pulled one back to scupper Hale’s clean sheet, but Vikings ran out comfortable 7-3 victors.
Despite being further depleted by losing Baxter to prior commitments and Townsend having to play a limited role due to illness, Vikings made the most of their experience in their second match against league newcomers Cambridge Thunder, scoring five times in the first five minutes through Rob Webster (2), Dwayne Leonard (2) and Barton.
The goals continued to flow and the interval saw Vikings 9-0 ahead.
Thunder shocked Vikings with a strike in the first minute of the second period, but Vikings soon regained composure and continued to find the net regularly to tally 22 goals with Barton leading the scoring with nine, Webster and Leonard scoring four each with two goals for Powell and a notable hat-trick for netminder Morton playing as an outfield player.
Anyone interested in playing for the Vikings can contact Karl Leonard on 01249 661479.
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