VICTORIA – There's an election upcoming in this country and Isaac Koch is making his own campaign for Canada West Most Valuable Player honours.

The University of Victoria Vikes rode two of their veterans to a 3-0 victory over the University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat during Canada West action Friday night at Centennial Stadium.

All of Koch's skills were on display: the blazing speed, the fine touch and the rocket on his right foot.

"Those are all the moves I've been working on all my life so it was nice to show them off and put it all together in one game," said Koch.

The West Kelowna product highlighted a slow first half that saw as many yellow cards handed out as shots on net.

Ian Whibley is usually on the finishing end of an Isaac Koch pass, but this time he returned the favour. He grabbed a Heat turnover at midfield and dumped the ball into space following the turnover and let Koch's speed take over. Koch threw it into fifth gear and blazed past Spencer Young to get in alone on Nicholas Reitsma. In tight, he tucked it five-hole for his fourth goal of the season in the 37^th minute.

"It's nice, it feels great and it's always fun to score. It was nice to get rewarded with some of those passes for a change," said Koch, who entered this evening's game tied for second in league scoring with 11 points.

Reitsma responded with a nice snag in the 43^rd minute for his first and only save of the half. Niko Cristante tried his patented turnaround strike from the top of the box, but Reitsma was there to pull it down.

Reitsma and Vikes' keeper Jas Lally entered this evening's tilt with the top two save percentages in the conference.

The hometown keeper save his sparkling save percentage take another hit seven minutes into second half when Koch revved his engine once again. He ripped past Heat defender Aaron Mulama. All Mulama could do was haul him down. The yellow card inside the box allowed Koch to take a free kick to the right of the net. Taking his time, he lined it up, curled his strike around the wall and tucked it in short side.

On the other side of the ball, Lally wasn't overly busy, but his toughest assignments came off free kicks from midfield.

First, he had to swim through a crowd to haul down a free kick from Young. Minutes later he used his left hand to swat away a free kick that got redirected on two headers, the latest one coming off of Pierson Stanley. He recorded three saves to earn his fifth shutout of the season. Lally is now tied with Reitsma and Sebastian Colyn for the Canada West lead in shutouts.

Koch later completed the hat trick in the 67^th minute when Cristante gave him a brilliant through ball. Koch raced up field, split a pair of defenders and chipped it over Reitsma for his second-career hat trick. He last accomplished the feat on Oct. 21, 2016, against the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack.

"I feel like I should be scoring like this every game with the chances I've been getting. I've come a long way in my recovery and I feel great out there," said Koch, who was named as the Vikes Male Athlete of the Month earlier in the day for the September. 

The Vikes (6-3-1) are back in action tomorrow night when the WolfPack (2-2-4) are in town. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Catch all the action in person or online at www.canadawest.tv, presented by CO-OP.