Old friend, new foe

WASILLA — An old friend turned devastating foe Thursday night, as former Alaska defenseman Kent Detlefsen scored the game-tying goal for Wichita Falls, helping the Wildcats to a 6-5 come-from-behind overtime win over a spirited Avalanche team at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Arena.

“The kids have been working their (butts) off,” Alaska coach Jamie Smith said following the game, the team’s 17th consecutive loss. But it’s perhaps the best Alaska has played in months.

“At least we got a point out of it,” Smith said of the overtime loss, Alaska’s first point since Jan. 4.

Detlefsen, who has been traded twice this season despite his status as the leading goal-scoring defenseman in the league, said the big goal was a nice way to close out his first visit back to the Menard since being traded by the Avs in early February.

“It felt really good to come back and score on the old team,” he said.

But he also was impressed with the play of his former mates.

“They played like they have nothing to lose,” Detlefsen said.

Luke Salazar’s third goal of the game, 2 minutes and 7 seconds left in overtime, won it for Wichita Falls, which leads the North American Hockey League’s South Division.

Alaska remains in fifth, seven points behind idle Texas for the division’s final playoff spot.

Nathan Corey made 47 saves for Alaska in the loss.

“He played excellent,” Smith said of the former South Anchorage High School netminder.

The game opened with some fantastic play by Alaska, which looked nothing like a team riding a lengthy losing streak.

Smith pumped his fist on the bench at the end of the first period, an inspired 20 minutes of hockey that saw the Avs look anything like the underdogs they were when they entered the game. Alaska took a 2-1 lead in the period on goals by Grant Highley and Jeremiah Dargis, and got several big saves by Corey, who made 18 stops in the period.

The team also picked up some swagger when forward Alex Young plowed the Wildcats’ Justin Javorek into the boards, then playfully inquired as to the health of a slow-to-get-up Javorek.

“Are you okay?” Young asked as Javorek angrily got to his feet.

Though Young drew a boarding penalty on the play, the hit put an exclamation point on a period that left Wichita Falls players cursing themselves, each other, and anyone else within earshot of the team’s bench.

Though Smith has preached a more defensive philosophy in recent days, Thursday’s opening period was an entertaining, free-wheeling affair, with players like Adam Friese, a Wasilla High School senior, and speedster Kyle Politz helping to add a dose of big-play ability to Alaska’s game.

The Avs’ energetic play continued into the second, with the team going up 3-1 when defenseman Tim Niedzieiak stole the puck and flicked it to Tyler Currier, who took the puck at the blue line and broke in on Wichita Falls goalie Phillip Graveleine, calmly finishing five-hole on the defenseless netminder.

Alaska then gave the home fans more to cheer about when Ryan Schmidt put a top-shelf rebound shot past Graveline to give the Avs a three-goal lead midway through the period.

Wichita Falls cut that lead to 4-2 when Adam Cardwell cleaned up a Detlefsen rebound, the ex-Alaska blueliner’s second assist of the contest.

But Detlefsen and his teammates had few reasons to celebrate heading into the final period, as Corey remained solid in net, flashing the quickness and deadly left hand of a Kid Dynamite-era Mike Tyson.

Though he kept his team in the game all night, Corey was far from pleased with the way the game wound up.

“Very disappointing,” he said. “I thought we were going to end (the losing streak) tonight, and it didn’t happen.

The teams traded power-play goals to start the third, then Wichita Falls closed to within one on Salazar’s second goal of the game.

Alaska was within 35 seconds of winning for the first time in 17 games when Detlefsen came back to haunt them, ripping a slap shot past Corey with an empty net at the other end, then pumping his arm defiantly in front of his ex-teammates as he sent the game into overtime.

“That felt amazing,” Detlefsen said, ranking the game-tying goal with his hat trick against Alexandria — the other team that traded him this season — as among his top moments of the season.

After the Wildcats tied the score, Detlefsen said he had little doubt the team would find a way to win in the overtime.

“We have so much firepower,” he said of his team, which boasts the top two scorers in the league in Cardwell and Salazar.

And though he rubbed his goal in the faces of his former teammates, Detlefsen said he has nothing but good memories of his time with the Avs, the team that saw him rise from a little-used defenseman into one of the league’s stars.

“I told coach Smith when I left, ‘thanks for the opportunities,’” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Wichita Falls 6, Alaska 5 OT

Thursday, Menard Memorial Arena

Alaska 2 2 1 0 - 5

Wichita Falls 1 1 3 1 - 6

First period — 1. Alaska- Highley (Currier), 1:38; 2. Wichita Falls- Salazar (Cardwell, Everett), 2:21; 3. Alaska- Dargis (Politz, Cohen), 12:28

Second period — 4. Currier (Niedzieiak, Winnick), 10:35; 5. Schmidt (Engseth, Colclough), 11:54; 6. Wichita Falls- Cardwell (Detlefsen, Salazar), 15:33

Third period — 7. Wichita Falls- Jameson (Shkreli, Deaurell), pp, 3:42; 8. Alaska- Young (Pichler, Dargis), pp, 5:04; 9. Wichita Fall- Salazar (Cardwell, Everett), 11:11; 10. Wichita Falls- Detlefsen (Morell,Salazar), extra attacker, 19:26

Overtime - 11. Wichita Falls- Salazar (Cardwell), 2:53

Penalties: Alaska 7 for 14:00, Wichita Falls 6 for 12:00. Shots: Alaska 12-9-4-0—25, Wichita Falls 18-11-21-3—53. Saves: Alaska- Corey 17-10-18-2—47, Wichita Falls- Graveline 10-7-3-0—20.