‘Drained’

WASILLA — There are some losses that simply prove too difficult to recover from.

The Wasilla Warriors followed a 2-1 double-overtime loss to East Anchorage late Thursday night with a 4-1 loss to the West Valley Wolfpack during the second day of the ASAA/First National Cup 4A state hockey championship at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena Friday morning.

“We had a feeling this morning coming in (that) there could be effects from that loss last night,” Wasilla head coach Bill Sturdevant said following the Warriors’ loss in the consolation semifinals Friday morning, a defeat which ended Wasilla’s 2009-10 season. “To lose a game like that, it’s hard to regroup.”

West Valley scored a pair of second-period goals and outshot the Warriors 38-23 during a win that moved the Wolfpack into the tournament’s consolation final.

While West Valley was able to rebound from a 7-2 loss to Dimond in the first round, the Warriors had trouble recovering from the heartbreaking loss to East.

Wasilla’s extra-periods battle with East didn’t go final until after 10 p.m. Thursday night. It took Joseph Reynolds’ redirection of his own rebound into the Wasilla net to decide the four-frame marathon. While East had plenty of time to prepare for its 8 p.m. semifinal date with Dimond, Wasilla was forced to hit the rink less than 12 hours later.

“It’s draining,” Sturdevant said. “Mentally we were drained. Physically we were drained. A lot of the kids didn’t get back until midnight last night.”

Justin Woods snuck a shot from the point past Wasilla goalie Chris Yaskus with 46 seconds left in the first period to give the Wolfpack the lead.

Senior Jeremiah Walker scored on the power play early in the second to tie the score at 1-1, but West Valley capped the game with three unanswered goals.

Wasilla enjoyed one of its best offensive periods of the tournament in the second frame of the Friday loss. The Warriors outshot the Wolfpack 13-9 during the middle 15 minutes, but could only put one shot past West Valley freshman Ian Morey.

“We went back to some of the things we were doing all season,” Sturdevant said.

Just as he was on Thursday, Yaskus was once again stellar against West Valley. Yaskus made 34 stops on Friday, adding to the 31 he made the night before.

“He had a huge weekend, a huge last week if you go back to the region tournament,” Sturdevant said of Yaskus, who allowed only one goal during two North Star Conference tournament games last week and recorded his first shutout of the season against Soldotna.

Sturdevant said its tough to see the season end with consecutive losses in the state tournament, but regardless, Sturdevant said the Wasilla coaching staff is extremely proud of what the Warriors accomplished during the 2009-10 campaign.

“We let the boys know after the game, this is one of the best groups we’ve had,” Sturdevant said. “Not only as coaches, but the teams we’ve been a part of as players.”

West Valley 4, Wasilla 1

ASAA/First National Cup consolation semifinals

Friday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. West Valley- Woods (Bratton) 0:46.

Second period — 2. Wasilla- Walker (Marshall, Hanson) pp 12:25, 3. West Valley- Shoemaker (unassisted) 8:28, 4. West Valley- Bratton (Henne, Shoemaker) 5:16.

Third period — 5. West Valley- Wixon (Terhuns) 1:22.

Shots on goal: West Valley 14-9-13—38, Wasilla 7-13-3—23; Saves: West Valley- Morey 7-12-3—22, Wasilla- Yaskus 13-7-12—34.

Eagles, Hawks

win state titles

WASILLA — The Hutchison Hawks and West Anchorage Eagles soared to victories in a pair of state title games Saturday evening at the Menard Arena.

In the 3A championship, Hutchison won its first state title in program history with a 4-3 win over Tri-Valley.

West Anchorage scored a 2-0 win over Dimond to win the 4A championship.

East Anchorage and Lathrop will both share third place in the 4A tournament. The T-Birds and Malemutes were tied at 1-1 through overtime, and play was suspended due to time considerations.

South Anchorage beat West Valley 4-2 in the 4A fourth-place game.

Delta Junction finished third at the 3A level with a 4-1 win over Monroe Catholic.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.