Hawks clip Moose to close out tourney

WASILLA — A hard-fought showing at the annual Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Hockey Tournament ended with a win for the Houston Hawks, 5-3 over Valley rival Palmer on Saturday.

After having made Wasilla sweat the previous afternoon, the Hawks brought their game to Palmer. Junior forward Jon Lovelace hit the back of Palmer’s net at the 9:35 mark of the first period on a screened shot to break the ice and give Houston a 1-0 lead.

The Hawks continued to press offensively and increased their lead before the end of the first period with another Lovelace goal with 2:52 left that was assisted again by senior forward and captain Lane Styers.

The second period carried Houston’s energy with another cushion goal from Styers, assisted by junior defenseman Jaden Sears to give the Hawks a 3-0 cushion with 12:05 left in the second.

With the physicality picking up and the period fading, it was Palmer junior defenseman Travis Dreyer who ripped a crippling slap shot from the blue line and into the Hawks net for a short-handed goal. That score at the 3:58 mark sparked a flurry of offense to end the second.

Hosuton responded with a five-hole goal from Sears less than a minute later, assisted by junior forward Patrick Thistle.

Then with only 37 seconds left in the period, Palmer captain Jake Inukai kept control of the puck on his knees and passed to Dreyer for another blue line slap shot. Freshman forward Hayden Moistner battled in front of the net for to tip the shot into the net and his first varsity goal.

The third period began with Palmer trailing 4-2, but the Moose cut the lead to a single goal when Moistner scored on a slap shot from the hash marks with 12:34 left in the game. Being one of the youngest and smallest players on the ice, it was no surprise that Moistner was the standout MVP for Palmer.

After a lot of back and forth for the rest of the period, Styers poked out a breakaway shorthanded and put the final Houston goal on the scoreboard. Being a part of nearly every Hawks goal, it was no surprise to see Styers receive the MVP for Houston after the game.

While Houston won 5-3, it was Palmer that had the most shots on goal, putting 50 pucks on the Hawks’ net.

“They outshot us 50 to 27,” Houston head coach Mike Styers said. “We were very fortunate to come out with a win playing the way we did against a team that should not be out-working us like Palmer did.”

Curtis C. Menard II Memorial

Hockey Tournament

Thursday-Saturday, Wasilla

Thursday

Lathrop 3, Colony 1

South 10, Palmer 0

Homer 4, Houston 1

East 3, Wasilla 1

Friday

Colony 3, Palmer 2

Wasilla 4, Houston 2

South 5, Lathrop 0

East 10, Homer 3

Saturday

Colony 3, Wasilla 2

Houston 5, Palmer 3

Lathrop 7, Homer 3

South 4, East 1 (championship)

Valley box scores

Thursday’s games

Homer 4, Houston 1

First period — no scoring.

Second period — 1. Homer- Reutov (unassisted) 3:22.

Third period — 2. Homer- Duggar (Bowe, McCarron) 14:48; 3. Houston- Shuey (Sears, Thistle) 14:30; 4. Homer- Bowe (Kizzia, McCarron) 4:40; 5. Homer- Tillion (McCarron) 1:09.

Shots on goal: Homer 8-13-16—37, Houston 14-10-13—37; Saves: Homer- Polushkin 36, Houston- Jones 33.

South 10, Palmer 0

First period — 1. South- Orizotti (unassisted) 14:28, 2. South- Weston (McPheters) 13:02, 3. South- Klatt (Congdon, Orizotti) 11:43, 4. South- Cain (McSarry, Jester) 0:36.3.

Second period — 5. South- undetermined 12:49, 6. South- Cahill (unassisted) 8:31, 7. South- Jester (Cain, McSarry) 5:18, 8. South- Hemmen (Klatt, Congdon) 4:18.

Third period — 9. South- Geerin (unassisted) 9:34, 10. South- Orizotti (Onstott) 6:07.

Shots on goal: South 22-24-11—57, Palmer 2-5-2—9; Saves: South- Simpson 9, Palmer- Good 47.

Lathrop 3, Palmer 1

First period — 1. Lathrop- Nilson (Stephens) 12:27, 2. Lathrop- Nilson (Stephens, Blankenship) 1:44, 3. Lathrop- Walker (unassisted) 0:48.

Second period — 4. Palmer Boyer (McJimsey, Parker) 2:05.

Third period — no scoring.

Shots on goal: Lathrop 10-10-5—25, Palmer 7-6-7—20; Saves: Lathrop- Morey 19, Palmer- Good 22.

East 3, Wasilla 1

First period — 1. East- Beverlin (Reynolds) 10:08.

Second period — no scoring.

Third period — 2. East- Stinson (Butts, Cresap) 8:28, 3. East- Beverlin (Cresap) 7:25, 4. Wasilla- Reeves (Keene, Cooley) 4:16.

Shots on goal: East 7-11-11—29, Wasilla 13-13-15—41; Saves: East- Carlson 40, Wasilla- Massie 26.

Friday’s games

Wasilla 4, Houston 2

First period — no scoring.

Second period — 1. Houston- Kinney (Shuey, Thistle) 8:58; 2. Houston- Lovelace (unassisted) 5:02.

Third period — 3. Wasilla- Fletcher (T. Hansen, Cooley) 8:01; 4. Wasilla- Keene (Schachle, C. Hanson) 4:11; 5. Cooley (C. Hanson) 1:59; 6. Wasilla- C. Hanson (unassisted) :01.

Shots on goal: Wasilla 12-17-24—53, Houston 2-5-3—10; Saves: Wasilla- Massie 8, Houston- Jones 49.

Colony 3, Palmer 2

First period — 1. Colony- McJimsey (Hartley) 13:29, 2. Colony- Parker (unassisted pp) 12:02, 3. Palmer- Jerman (Hayden) 2:48.

Second period — no scoring.

Third period — 4. Colony- Boyer (Hartley) 5:19 pp, 5. Palmer- Inukai (Richards) 4:29 pp.

Shots on goal: Colony 21-12-7—40, Palmer 10-6-11—27; Saves: Colony- Beebe 25, Palmer- Good 37.

East 10, Homer 3

South 5, Lathrop 0

Saturday’s games

Colony 3, Wasilla 2 OT

First period — 1. Wasilla- Reeves (Fletcher) 4:23.

Second period — 2. Colony- Kempiniski (Sanders) 9:19; 3. Wasilla- C. Hanson (Fletcher) 2:42.

Third period — 4. Colony- Parker (Boyer)4:42.

Overtime — no scoring.

Shootout — Colony- Link, McJimsey; Wasilla- Schachle.

Shots on goal: Colony 5-6-8-5—24, Wasilla 6-13-4-6—29; Saves: Colony- Beebe 27, Wasilla- Massie 22.

Houston 5, Palmer 3

First period — 1. Houston- Sears (Styers) 9:35, 2. Houston- Lovelace (Styers) 2:52.

Second period — 3. Houston- Styers (Sears) 12:05, 4. Palmer- Dreyer (Jerman) 3:58, 5. Houston- Sears (Shuey, Thistle) 3:05, 6. Palmer- Moistner (Dreyer) 37.9.

Third period — 7. Palmer- Moistner (Inukai) 12:34, 8. Houston- Styers (unassisted) 3:32sh.

Shots on goal: Houston 12-12-8—32, Palmer 18-19-13—50; Saves: Houston- Jones 47, Palmer- Good 27.