Brothers lead Warriors to big overtime win

WASILLA — When the Wasilla Warriors skated off the ice Thursday night they had just outshot the Kenai Kardinals 40-10. But all that mattered was the score.

Kenai 2, Wasilla 0.

That left the Warriors understandably frustrated. But a pair of brothers helped lift some of that frustration Saturday afternoon.

Sophomore Cooper Hanson scored an overtime goal set up by his older brother, Chancie, to give the Warriors a 4-3 win over the Soldotna Stars.

“That was good to get that win for sure,” Wasilla head coach Bill Sturdevant said. “Especially considering how we did as a team (during the road trip to the Kenai Peninsula) and coming off those two games we outshot opponents almost 4 to 1.”

The Hanson to Hanson goal and the win pushed Wasilla to an even 4-4-1 in the North Star Conference standings, gave the Warriors a 2-1-0 record during the three-game weekend series as Kenai Peninsula opponents and helped dull the memory of a 1-1-1 mark during a three-game trip to the Peninsula during the first half of the season.

Wasilla spent the weekend peppering opposing goals with pucks, averaging 42 shots per game. But no shot was bigger than the one that left Cooper Hanson’s stick on a power-play midway through overtime.

Playing low on the power play, Cooper Hanson stood anchored to the post and was able to redirect a puck kept alive by Chancie Hanson, Wasilla’s senior captain.

“(Cooper) got a couple of whacks at it, and was able to get it in,” Sturdevant said.

Freshman Colton Fletcher scored twice in the win, and senior Brandon Trush also tallied a goal. Fletcher’s second goal was also on the power play. Andrew Cooley finished with a pair of assists for Wasilla. Brett Keene, Dylan McRee and Will Harrren also had assists.

Freshman Lauren Massie earned the win in the Warrior net.

Wasilla has one game left on its NSC regular season schedule, a date with Colony Friday at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla. The Warriors can finish 5-4-1 in the conference, but no higher than fourth in the standings. Kenai (3-4-1), which still has games against Homer and Soldotna, can still finish fourth or fifth.

Colony (6-2-1), Soldotna (6-2-0) and Palmer (6-3-1) currently hold the top three spots in the conference. The first two seeds in the NSC Championships, scheduled for Feb. 2-4 at the Soldotna Sports Center, earn first-round byes.

Regardless of seeding, Sturdevant said this win could be huge in terms of building momentum for what is still a very young team.

“Getting a win like that in OT is huge for us. Over the years, some of these kids have experience in overtime, but we’re a really young team,” Sturdevant said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.