Afternoon school buses run as scheduled; prep hockey teams stuck in Valley

MAT-SU - Mat-Su Borough School District bus routes operated as usual this afternoon, but the buses that were supposed to take local hockey teams to Soldotna for the North Star Conference Championships are still sitting in the Valley.

The Seward Highway was closed near the Sterling Highway intersection after an early-morning avalanche Thursday, closing travel on the road in both directions. The road was opened again at 3 p.m. Thursday.

According to a press release issued by the Alaska Department of Transportation, the slide - estimated from 3 to 10 feet deep and 100 feet wide - hit about 7 a.m. Thursday morning. The road is closed at Mile 37 of the Seward Highway, at the "Y" intersection with the Sterling Highway.

With the road closed, the Colony, Palmer and Wasilla hockey squads are unable to travel to the tournament, which was slated to start Thursday at 5 p.m. at the Soldotna Sports Center in Soldotna.

Tournament officials compressed the three-day event into a two-day tourney. First-round action is now planned for Friday night, with the semifinals and championship game of the single-elimination tourney slated for Saturday.

"After visiting with representatives from each school and the board of control, we have collectively decided to run the tournament over a two-day period," Soldotna activities director Galen Brantley Jr said in an email.

Colony head coach Jamie Smith said he got the call as he and Palmer head coach Brad Hanson were about to board a flight to the Kenai Peninsula so he could attend the tournament's coaches meeting.

"Me and Brad were both getting on the airplane, and we both got the call," Smith said. "(Our team) was supposed to leave at 8:30 a.m."

The new schedule has Colony meeting Homer Friday at 5 p.m. and Wasilla playing Kenai Friday at 7 p.m. The semifinals are slated for 9:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. on Saturday, with the championship game at 7:30 p.m.

Smith said there shouldn't be any concern about the new format.

"In youth hockey we do that every tournament, we play a couple of games every day," Smith said.

A combination of rain and snow, that dropped on the Valley late Wednesday night, left the Mat-Su with less than desirable road conditions, but there was little impact from the storm.

All Mat-Su Borough School District schools were open Thursday. Some bus routes were closed in the Butte area due to icy road conditions Thursday morning, but afternoon buses ran as scheduled.