Hat trick of hat tricks pace Moose rout

PALMER — The Palmer Moose split with a pair of Fairbanks area opponents over the weekend.

On Friday, three players posted hat tricks to lead Palmer to a 12-3 nonconference win over North Pole at the MTA Palmer Ice Arena in Palmer.

Dalton Buness, Piers LaFrance and Marissa Ketterman each hit the three-goal mark to lead the Moose to the lopsided win.

Nick Reeves, Blake Irvin and Jacob Inukai also scored for Palmer against the Patriots.

On Saturday, West Valley didn’t waste any time on the power play during a 6-1 win over the Moose.

West Valley posted five goals with the advantage. Three of those came less than 21 seconds into the power play.

“It wasn’t by design, I’ll tell you that much,” West Valley head coach Wayne Sawchuck said with a laugh after the win at the MTA Palmer Ice Arena. “Sometimes things happen like that.”

Dylan Blankenship scored a pair of power-play goals, and Zach Winner, Tanner Shoemaker and Logan Henne also scored with the advantage to lead the Wolfpack to the nonconference win.

Matthew Wixon added a goal for West Valley.

Palmer junior Dalton Buness scored midway through the first to give the Moose the early lead. But after Buness tipped in a shot from the point, West Valley’s special teams took over.

The Wolfpack finished 5-for-8 with the advantage and killed all seven Palmer power plays during the game.

“Two units had power play goals. That’s a good positive for us,” Sawchuck said. “We also did a great job on the penalty kill.”

Blankenship scored 21 seconds into West Valley’s first power play opportunity, slipping a puck by Palmer freshman Ashton Good. Late in the first, Wixon needed only eight seconds to score on the advantage, posting a goal right off a face-off.

Midway through the second, Shoemaker needed seven seconds to score on the power play. Shoemaker took the puck in the slot, stepped up through the left wing circle and fired a quick wrister past Good.

West Valley took control in the second period, posting three goals on 13 shots. The Wolfpack outshot the Moose 15-6 in the third.

“We knew we were playing our four lines and a knew they’d probably shorten the bench,” Sawchuck said. “We knew as the game went on we’d have a good chance to wear them down.”

West Valley scored an 11-2 win over Houston on Friday. Blankenship led West Valley with three goals.

On Friday, Palmer scored five first-period goals en route to the lopsided win over the Pats. Buness and LaFrance each scored twice in the first frame.

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

West Valley 6, Palmer 1

Saturday, MTA Palmer Ice Arena

First period — 1. Palmer- Buness (Harrison, I. Good) 6:13; 2. West Valley- Blankenship (Henne, Winner) pp 5:33; 3. West Valley- Henne (Edson, Winner) pp 1:18.

Second period — 4. West Valley- Wixon (Blankenship) 13:59; 5. West Valley- Winner (Edson, Blankenship) pp 9:36; 6. West Valley- Shoemaker (Brattan, Wendling) pp 8:21.

Third period — 7. West Valley- Blankenship (Henne, Wixon) pp 8:02.

Shots on goal: West Valley- 10-13-15—38, Palmer- 11-11-6—28; Saves: West Valley- Taylor 10-11-6—22, Palmer- A. Good 8-10-14—32.

Palmer 12, North Pole 3

Friday, MTA Palmer Ice Arena

First period — 1. Palmer- Buness (I. Good, Staskywicz) 13:15; 2. Palmer- LaFrance (unassisted) 11:10; 3. North Pole- Pascoe (unassisted) 9:28; 4. Palmer- Ketterman (I. Good) 7:08; 5. Palmer- LaFrance (N. Reeves) 6:35; 6. Palmer- Buness (I. Good, Wright) 5:49.

Second period — 7. Palmer- LaFrance (unassisted) 10:33; 8. North Pole- Wade (unassisted) 6:55; 9. Palmer- Ervin (LaFrance, Wright) 2:52; 10. Palmer- Inukai (Bryers, Morino) 1:56; 11. Palmer- N. Reeves (Wright) 0:18.

Third period — 12. Palmer- Buness (I. Good) 11:57; 13. Palmer- Ketterman (Inukai) 9:53; 14. Palmer- Ketterman (Inukai, Bryers) 5:02; 15. North Pole- Grantham (Pascoe) 0:13.

Shots on goal: North Pole 8-3-5—16, Palmer 16-19-10—45; Saves: North Pole- Heineken 11-10-x—21, Morrow x-5-7—12.