HEARTBREAK AT STATE

WASILLA — The Wasilla Warriors connected the first punch, but the East Anchorage Thunderbirds landed the final blow.

Joseph Reynolds scored with 5:33 remaining in the second overtime to give the Thunderbirds a 2-1 extra-periods victory over the Warriors during the first round of the ASAA/First National Cup 4A state hockey championships at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena on Thursday.

“Losing that game like that, it’s terrible,” Wasilla head coach Bill Sturdevant said moments after the heartbreaking loss. “It’s a hard one to stomach.

“But at this point all we can do is regroup. We’ve got another one tomorrow.”

Wasilla will meet West Valley in the consolation semifinals today at 10:15 a.m. at the Menard Arena. East moves forward to meet Dimond in the championship semifinals at 8 p.m.

“We told the boys we still have another one to play,” Sturdevant said. “We’ve still got more to play for. We can still get two wins.”

Reynolds gave East, a team competing in its first state tournament in seven seasons, the win when the junior forward knocked in a rebound from the left circle into the near side of the net nearly three minutes into the second overtime.

“We had our chances, East had theirs,” Sturdevant said. “Unfortunately for us, they cashed in on a puck that bounced their way.”

Wasilla forward Trent Wohlers gave Wasilla the early lead when the junior sniper scored on the Warriors’ first official shot of the game. Defenseman Chancie Hanson fed Wohlers with a long pass, and Wohlers hustled up the right side of the rink.

With two teammates to his left, Wohlers found open space near the right circle and fired a quick wrist shot into the near side of the net.

Nearly three minutes later, East Anchorage senior Ryan Luiten netted a power-play goal to tie the game at 1-1.

Defenseman Tommy Gerken sent a pass across the zone to Luiten, who put a shot from the right circle into the upper right corner of the net.

But after that score at the 5:06 mark, the teams played scoreless hockey well into the second overtime.

East held a steep advantage in the shot totals for much of the first two-and-a-half periods of play. The Thunderbirds allowed only four Wasilla first-period shots and outshot the Warriors 12-1 during the second frame.

But regardless of those totals, Sturdevant felt the effort was still there.

“They certainly didn’t quit,” Sturdevant said. “They didn’t panic. They played the entire game start to finish entirely the same.”

The T-Birds outshot the Warriors 33-18 in the game, but Wasilla had a number of quality chances during the latter half of the third and in the overtime periods.

And Wasilla netminder Chris Yaskus was stellar throughout.

“He played phenomenal,” Sturdevant said of Yaskus. “He made some amazing acrobatic saves there.”

Wasilla was looking for its first victory in the first round since opening the 2005 state tourney with a win over Chugiak. With a victory over West Valley today, and another tomorrow, the Warriors could finish fourth for the second time in three seasons.

Dimond scored the most lopsided win of the first round, beating West Valley 7-2. West Anchorage also scored a five-goal win, beating Kenai Central 5-0. Defending state champion Lathrop edged South Anchorage 1-0.

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

East Anchorage 2, Wasilla 1

ASAA/First National Cup

Thursday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Wasilla- Wohlers (Hanson) 8:47, 2. East- Luiten (Gerken, Reynolds) pp 5:06.

Second period — no scoring.

Third period — no scoring.

First overtime — no scoring.

Second overtime — 3. East- Reynolds (unassisted) 5:33.

Shots on goal: East 7-12-5-3-6—33, Wasilla 4-1-9-4-0—18; Saves: East- Thomas 3-1-9-4-0—17, Wasilla- Yaskus 6-12-5-3-5—32.