But now, Palmer is seeing a little of that work pay off.
The Moose posted a 5-1 win over Houston on Friday, its first of the season, and an 8-1 victory over Bartlett on Saturday to finish fourth in the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Hockey Tournament at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.
  
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A strong weekend from the Palmer sophomore class helped the Moose piece together consecutive wins.
Sophomore forward Payton Staskywicz scored twice, his first career goals, during the win over the Bears. Sophomore forward Dalton Buness scored his first goal of the season on Saturday. Sophomore defenseman Brennan Harrison posted a power-play goal and a pair of assists against Bartlett.
On Friday, sophomore forward Mitchell Rissew scored twice to spark the Moose.
That sophomore class has had the job of filling the void left by Palmer’s glut of departures. The Moose have had to replace graduated all-conference talents such as forwards Michael Hanson and Zach Richards, and defenseman Andrew Ferguson.
All-conference forward Jared Hanson, a high school junior, is now skating in the Junior A Tier I USHL.
Junior defenseman Nick Reeves and senior forward Tyler Isaacs are both playing at the major midget level for the Pikes Peak Miners in Colorado. Defenseman Dylan Danielowski, another all-conference selection, has not recovered from a pair of offseason shoulder surgeries.
“We know we’re young,” Hanson said. “We know we’ve got a lot of building to do, but we’re trying.”
Late in the first period against Houston, Rissew took a pass from sophomore Ivan Good at the right circle, and tucked a shot just inside the near-side pipe to give the Moose the two-goal advantage over the Hawks.
Early in the second, during the final seconds of a Houston power play, Rissew crashed the net and knocked a loose puck past Houston goalie Ben Barenburg to give Palmer the 3-0 lead.
Hanson said he’s happy to see Rissew’s contributions on the offensive end.
“As thin as we are, I expected him to help,” Hanson said. “I’m pleasantly surprised by him putting the puck in the net. That’s been real nice.”
Junior Piers LaFrance also scored shorthanded for the Moose.
Midway through the third, with the Moose skating two players short, LaFrance got the puck at the blue line to create a breakaway chance, and used a quick move to slip a shot under the glove hand of Barenburg.
“This whole season, he’s been a real positive for us,” Hanson said. “He’s a great hustler.”
Junior Steven Acher skated across the face of the goal and knocked in the rebound of a Good shot to give Palmer the 1-0 lead late in the first.
Senior James Shuey put the Hawks on the scoreboard with a power-play goal late in the game. Freshman Lane Styers led a rush down the ice and sophomore Ken Doss was able to work the puck from the left circle to Shuey, who was perched at the far side of the net.
The Colony Knights used a 9-2 win over Houston early Saturday afternoon to finish seventh in the tourney.
Bartlett built a three-goal lead in the consolation semifinals on Friday to force Colony into the seventh-place game with a 3-2 win.
The Knights scored a pair of goals during the final two minutes of regulation, but were not able to net the equalizer.
Senior Chris Sawyer put the Knights on the scoreboard with a goal with 1:52 left.
Senior Lance Nezaticky slipped a puck into the Bartlett goal with 33 seconds remaining.
Colony outshot Bartlett 40-28 in the loss.
Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.
Bartlett 3, Colony 2
Menard Tournament consolation semifinals
Friday, Menard Arena
First period — no scoring.
Second period — 1. Bartlett- King (Esquibel-Mills) 4:46.
Third period — 2. Bartlett- King (Waalkes) 3:52, 3. Bartlett- Esquibel-Mills (Waalkes) 2:40, 4. Colony- Sawyer (Carter, Tobin) 1:52, 5. Colony- Nezaticky (Moma, Carter) 0:33.
Shots on goal: Bartlett 7-10-11—28, Colony 13-10-17—40; Saves: Bartlett- DeBoer 13-10-15—38, Colony- Savel 7-9-9—25.
Palmer 5, Houston 1
Menard Tournament consolation semifinals
Friday, Menard Arena
First period — 1. Palmer- Acher (Good) 4:36, 2. Palmer- Rissew (Good) 1:45.
Second period — 3. Palmer- Rissew (unassisted) sh 14:26, 4. Palmer- Acher (Good, Ervin) 1:00.
Third period — 5. Palmer- LaFrance (unassisted) sh 7:18, 6. Houston- Ja. Shuey (Doss, Styers) pp 2:55.
Shots on goal: Palmer 10-11-8—29, Houston 8-7-12—27; Saves: Palmer- Naegele 8-7-11—26, Houston- Barenburg 8-9-7—24.
Dimond 8, Wasilla 3
Menard Tournament semifinals
Friday, Menard Arena
First period — 1. Wasilla- McCree (Wohlers) 5:10, 2. Dimond- Hill (Smith-Mass) 1:29, 3. Wasilla- Walker (Hanson) 1:02.
Second period — 4. Dimond- Roberts (Crew, Dunlap) 12:53, 5. Dimond- Clapper (Schnell, Crew) 10:18, 6. Dimond- Dunlap (Roberts) 9:42, 7. Dimond- Fairchild (Clapper) 9:19, 8.. Wasilla- Korsmo (Edwards) 4:58, 9. Dimond- Feller (Smith-Mass, Thompson) 2:29.
Third period — 10. Dimond- Stoner (Fairchild, Thompson) pp 11:23, 11. Dimond- Roberts (Dunlap, Ramos) 10:03.
Shots on goal: Dimond 16-18-10—44, Wasilla 4-11-6—21, Saves: Dimond- Holzschuh 2-10-6—18; Wasilla- Yaskus 15-13-8—36.
North Pole 10, Kenai Central 2
Menard Tournament semifinals
Friday, Menard Arena
First period — 1. North Pole- Bridgman (Longoria, Parra) 13:46, 2. North Pole- Parra (Longoria, Bridgman) 13:13, 3. North Pole- Brigdman (Wade) 7:51.
Second period — 4. North Pole Bunch (Keturi) pp 8:40, 5. North Pole- Longoria (Bridgman) 7:39, 6. North Pole- Longoria (Bunch) sh 2:51.
Third period — 7. North Pole- Bridgman (Longoria) pp 11:59, 8. North Pole- Tilman (Geyer, Bridgman), 10. Kenai- Palchikoff (Lemay, Cue) pp 10:33, 11. North Pole- Keturi (Longoria) sh 7:35, 12. Kenai- Cheek (unassisted) pp 1:23, 13. North Pole- Longoria (Bridgman, Tilman) 0:14.
Shots on goal: North Pole 13-16-21—50, Kenai 6-8-5—19; Saves: North Pole- Fine 6-8-3—17, Kenai- Daugherty 10-13-17—40; Penalties: North Pole 13-for-26, Kenai 8-for-16.
Comments
5 comment(s)Homer Rules wrote on Nov 17, 2009 11:26 AM:
Hockey Parent wrote on Nov 17, 2009 8:23 AM:
Thanks for supporting hockey and a great time! "
Colony Player wrote on Nov 16, 2009 2:06 PM:
palmer mom wrote on Nov 15, 2009 11:14 AM:
Hockey Mom wrote on Nov 15, 2009 9:13 AM: