By Steve Morris

The North Branch boys hockey just can't seem to catch a break this season.

Their woes continued with two losses last week against Minneapolis East at the Parade Ice Garden Jan. 12 and to St. Michael-Albertville on Jan. 14.

Minneapolis East

To finish off the final of the three games against Minneapolis East, the boys lost 2-7.

The teams played a back and forth style until the 6:57 mark of the first period when the Vikings were called for a penalty.

The East player was awarded a penalty shot and converted for a goal. About a minute later, a weird bounce from behind the net went right to the stick of a Minneapolis East player who quickly backhanded the puck into the goal.

"The game was weird with strange bounces that worked to their advantage," head coach Darrell Schulte said.

Minneapolis East would score a final time for the period off a rebound to end the period with a three goal lead.

"We just couldn't get into a consistent flow," Schulte said.

East would score again 30 seconds into the second. The Vikings settled down and played good hockey the rest of the period, closing out the second period with a goal of their own. Junior defenseman Anthony Zengerl scored from a long slap shot.

The opposition would extend their lead twice before being answered again by Zengerle. Another long blast, assisted by junior forward Dalton Miska, was the result of the power play shot.

Minneapolis East would score again to close out the Vikings 7-2.

The boys were playing with out three players who were out for various reasons, including an injury, national guard weekend and a family wedding.

The boys also played without sophomore center Lane Noyes who they lost toward the end of the first period due to a significant cut, which required stitches.

"He's probably out a week or so, but it sounds like he'll be fine," Schulte said.

St. Michael Albertville

On Jan. 14, the boys faced off against St. Michael Albertville and were blanked 8-0.

After the first period of play, the boys skated to a 1-0 deficit.

In the second period, St. Michael-Albertville went on a surge and poured in four goals. They followed in the third period with three more goals to end all scoring.

Vivking goalie Scott Dennis stopped 28 of 36 shots on net for the game.

North Branch managed 12 shots on net for the game.