Casselman Vikings

The Casselman Vikings are a Canadian Junior ice hockey team based in Casselman, Ontario. The Vikings play in the Central Canada Hockey League Tier 2 (CCHL2). Prior to 2015, their league was known as the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League of the Ottawa District Hockey Association. The Vikings have won the Carson Trophy three times and were the 2014 Don Johnson Memorial Cup Eastern Canadian Jr. B Champions.
==History==
Founded in 1986, the Stars won the Cameron Trophy six times as the Ottawa District Hockey Association's top Junior C club. The first time was in 1989, and then again in 1993. In 1997, the Stars set up a dynasty: winning in 1998, 1999, and 2000.
The 2004-05 season was great for the Stars. After finishing first in the league with 28 wins in 36 games, the Stars defeated the Rockland Nationals 4-games-to-none in the league semi-final and then their rivals, the Embrun Panthers, 4-games-to-1 to win their sixth crown.
In the 2005-06 season, the Stars again finished in first place with 27 wins in 36 games. In the semi-final they defeated the Saint-Isidore Eagles 4-games-to-1 and then were upset by the Embrun Panthers in the final 4-games-to-3.
After a disappointing 2006-07 season, in which the Stars finished seventh place overall, they were swept 4-games-to-none in the league quarter-final by the East Ottawa Thunder.
In 2007, the Stars ownership attempted to fill the void left in the Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League by the Junior "A" expansion of the Kemptville 73's. When the Casselman franchise could not be put together fast enough, the Stars program was suspended for the 2007-08 Eastern Junior C season.
The Casselman Stars were founded in 1986 as members of the Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League. In 2007, the ownership of the team pulled their membership out of the EOJCHL with the intention of joining the Junior B Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League. After sitting out a year, the group was awarded a Junior B franchise and changed the team's name to the Vikings. The league's Junior C spot was given to a new team called the Cumberland Bandits.
The Viking have won three Carson Trophies as EOJHL champions (2012, 2014 and 2015). On April 22, 2014, the Vikings became the first Ontario team to ever play at the Don Johnson Memorial Cup tournament, originally competed for by only Atlantic Canada teams. 
===2013-14 Championship season===
The Vikings finished the 2013-14 regular season with the top record in the St. Lawrence Division, their conference, and the entire EOJHL with 35 wins, 2 losses, and 4 overtime losses. In their division semi-final, the Vikings swept the Akwesasne Wolves in four games and then beat the Winchester Hawks 4-games-to-1 to win the Division title.http://www.standard-freeholder.com/2014/04/08/casselman-needs-a-win-at-home The Vikings then defeated the Gananoque Islanders 4-games-to-1 to win the Rideau-St. Lawrence Conference championship.http://www.recorder.ca/2014/03/24/islanders-season-closes The Vikings moved on to the Carson Trophy finals against the Metro-Valley Conference champion Ottawa West Golden Knights. Casselman quickly found themselves in trouble as the Golden Knights mounted a 3-games-to-1 lead, but the Vikings came back with 3-2 and 4-1 victories to force game seven. In Game 7, Taylor Widenmaier scored in the first to take an early lead, with Ottawa West tying the game in the second. With 37 seconds left in regulation, the Golden Knights scored a possible game winning goal, but with only 14 seconds left Thierry Henry tied up the game forcing overtime. 1:18 into the second extra frame, Captain Joel Adam scored the game winning goal to give the Vikings their second Carson Trophy as EOJHL champions.http://www.recorder.ca/2014/03/24/islanders-season-closeshttp://www.insideottawavalley.com/sports-story/4483006-vikings-conquer-golden-knights/http://www.standard-freeholder.com/2014/04/15/casselman-vikings-eojhl-champs-again
As of 2014, the hockey organizations of Atlantic Canada decided to allow a representative of Eastern Ontario into their Junior B championship tournament, the Don Johnson Memorial Cup. Since 1982, the "DoJo" has been exclusive to Atlantic Canadian provinces, but beginning in 2014 has rebranded itself the "Eastern Canadian Junior B Championship". By winning the Carson Trophy, the Vikings became the first team to gain entry to the championship from west of the Atlantic Region.http://www.hockeyscene.com/hockeyscene/league_full_story.jsp?lid=56&nid=17024 On April 22, the Vikings made this a reality by facing the Fredericton Jr. Caps of the New Brunswick Junior B Hockey League in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. The Viking took their first ever DoJo game by a score of 6-1.http://www.standard-freeholder.com/2014/04/23/casselman-vikings-win-opener-at-2014-don-johnson-memorial-cup-eastern-canadian-junior-b-hockey-championship The next day, the Vikings took on the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League's champion Sackville Blazers and defeated them 7-5.http://thechronicleherald.ca/sports/1202641-blazers-pirates-lose-first-games-of-tourney On the 24th, Casselman faced the Avalon Jr. Capitals of the St. John's Junior Hockey League and beat them 6-2.http://thechronicleherald.ca/sports/1202966-blazers-pick-up-second-win-at-eastern-junior-b-hockey-championship In their final round robin game, the Vikings faced the host Strait Pirates but dispatched them with an 8-1 score.http://thechronicleherald.ca/sports/1203268-arthur-hessian-lead-playoff-bound-blazers With the round robin over, Taylor Widenmaier was named to the tournament's all-star team, Nicolas Brazeau was given the most sportsmanlike player award, and Maxime Choquette was named the tournament's most valuable player.http://ecjbc.ca/news.php?news_id=932393 Widenmaier and Brazeau would lead the round robin in scoring (13 points each) and Gianmarco De Meis would lead all goalies with a 0.925 save percentage.http://ecjbc.ca/statistics.php?league_id=37685&schedule_id=206015
With a perfect 4-0-0 record, the Vikings earned the first seed in the semi-final and faced fourth seed Fredericton again.http://www.capebretonpost.com/Sports/Hockey/2014-04-25/article-3702708/Playoff-matches-set-at-Don-Johnson-Cup/1 The Jr. Caps were ready for the Vikings this time and clogged up the middle, stymieing their high speed offence. The Jr. Caps had it tied up 1-1 going into the third, before the Viking popped three quick goals. The final score was 4-2 and Casselman was into the Final against Sackville (who just dispatched the defending champion Kensington Vipers in overtime).http://thechronicleherald.ca/sports/1203410-sackville-wins-in-ot-to-reach-don-johnson-cup-final In the final, Sackville opened up the score early in the first and held a 1-0 lead until the third period. Casselman stepped up the pressure in third period and responded with goals from Widenmaier and Luc Forget. With 1:22 to go in the third, Sackville tied the game to force overtime. At 6:18 into the overtime frame, Simon Cousineau popped in the game winning goal to secure the Eastern Canadian Championship. Goalie Gianmarco De Meis was named the championship's most valuable player with 36 saves on 38 shots.
The Casselman Vikings finished the season with 57 wins and 11 losses, won their second Carson Trophy, and their first Don Johnson Memorial Cup. With this, they became the first team outside of the Atlantic Provinces to compete for a DoJo Championship, the first to win a game at the event, and the first to win the championship itself, all while keeping an undefeated 6-0-0 record.
==Season-by-season results==
Season 	GP 	W 	L 	T 	OL 	GF 	GA 	P 	Results 	Playoffs 	 	
1986-87	30 	17 	10 	3 	- 	157 	127 	37 	2nd EOJCHL 	 	 	
1992-93	30 	16 	13 	1 	- 	208 	179 	33 	4th EOJCHL 	Won League 	 	
2000-01	30 	18 	10 	2 	0 	155 	118 	38 	3rd EOJCHL 	Lost Quarter-final 	 	
2001-02	36 	12 	22 	1 	1 	165 	208 	26 	5th EOJCHL 	Lost Quarter-final 	 	
2002-03	36 	23 	10 	0 	3 	178 	128 	49 	2nd EOJCHL 	Lost Semi-final 	 	
2003-04	36 	12 	20 	1 	3 	128 	165 	28 	6th EOJCHL 	Lost Quarter-final 	 	
2004-05	36 	28 	6 	0 	2 	181 	99 	58 	1st EOJCHL 	Won League 	 	
2005-06	36 	27 	7 	- 	2 	194 	123 	56 	1st EOJCHL 	Lost Final 	 	
2006-07	34 	14 	18 	- 	2 	128 	148 	30 	7th EOJCHL 	Lost Semi-final 	 	
2007-08	Did Not Participate 	Did Not Participate 	Did Not Participate 	Did Not Participate 	Did Not Participate 	Did Not Participate 	Did Not Participate 	Did Not Participate 	Did Not Participate 	Did Not Participate 	Did Not Participate 	
2008-09	42 	30 	9 	2 	1 	270 	180 	63 	2nd EO StLawr 	Lost Division S-Final 	 	
2009-10	40 	29 	7 	2 	2 	254 	107 	62 	1st EO StLawr 	Lost Division Final 	 	
2010-11	42 	35 	5 	1 	1 	256 	117 	72 	1st EO StLawr 	Lost Division Final 	 	
2011-12	42 	32 	8 	0 	2 	239 	118 	66 	2nd EO StLawr 	Won League 	 	
2012-13	42 	31 	7 	0 	4 	230 	128 	66 	1st EO StLawr 	Lost Semi-final 	 	
Season 	GP 	W 	L 	OL 	SL 	GF 	GA 	P 	Results 	Playoffs 	 	
2013-14	41 	35 	2 	2 	2 	231 	96 	74 	1st EO StLawr 	Won League, Won DJC 	 	
2014-15	40 	34 	4 	1 	1 	233 	105 	70 	1st EO StLawr 	Won League 	 	
2015-16	44 	40 	3 	1 	0 	266 	116 	81 	1st of 8 Martin Div 	CCHL2 Champions 	 	
2016-17	48 	38 	8 	2 	2 	236 	130 	80 	2nd of 8 Martin Div 	CCHL2 Champions 	 	
2017-18	52 	40 	10 	2 	0 	289 	121 	82 	1st of 8 Martin Div 	CCHL2 Champions 	 	
2018-19	44 	32 	9 	2 	1 	197 	123 	67 	2nd of 8 Martin Div 	Lost Semifinals 	 	
2019-20	44 	27 	13 	4 	0 	185 	146 	58 	5th of 8 Martin Div 	Trailing in quarterfinals 1-0 when playoffs cancelled	 	
2020-21	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic 	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021-22	42 	23 	15 	2 	2 	141 	131 	50 	4th Martin 	Lost Div Semifinals 	 	
2022-23	42 	30 	10 	2 	0 	182 	118 	62 	2nd Martin 	Lost Final 	 	
2023-24	44 	35 	9 	0 	0 	245 	108 	70 	2nd Martin 	Won Championship 	 	
==Don Johnson Memorial Cup==
Eastern Canada Jr B Championships
Year	Round Robin 	Record	Standing	SemiFinal 	Br. Med. Game	Gold Medal Game
2014	W, Fredericton Caps 6-1W, Sackville Blazers 7-5W, Avalon Capitals 6-2W, Strait Pirates 8-1	4-0-0 	1st of 6	W, Fredericton Caps 4-2	n/a 	OTW, Sackville Blazers 3-2Don Johnson Cup Champions
This was the only year the EOJHL was part of the Don Johnson Championships
== References ==
==External links==
*Vikings Webpage
*EOJHL Webpage
Category:Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League
Category:Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League teams
Category:Established in 1986