Peaking in Palmer

Frontiersman

WASILLA — Zach Richards can’t help but think back to his first season with the Palmer varsity hockey team.

“I remember my freshman year and we actually lost 20-2 (to Wasilla) and only won one conference game,” Richards said on Friday.

But the Moose have come along way in four years. On Friday, Richards and his fellow seniors helped Palmer beat Wasilla 4-0 and earn the top seed in the North Star Conference, which is slated to start Thursday at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

“Just for the program to turn around, and see everyone chipping in, and to get it done tonight against our rivals, it’s just great,” Richards said.

Palmer’s last conference title came in 1991 and the Moose have not qualified for the state tournament since the 1996 campaign.

For much of the past decade the Moose consistently struggled in North Star Conference play, so did the Palmer seniors have any idea they’d be winning the regular season title and fighting for a spot in state before they took off their Palmer sweaters for the final time?

“No, not really,” Palmer senior Andrew Ferguson said.

Thanks to factors, such as the birth of the Palmer Ice Arena and the formation of the Palmer Amateur Hockey Association, the Moose varsity program has been allowed to build steadily during the past four seasons. Richards said the core of talent the Moose did have also kept a good attitude throughout the growing pains.

“We knew we had some kids coming up,” Richards said. “Even when we were struggling, everyone was still up. We all love the game and just kept fighting. We knew someday it will come.”

This weekend, Palmer will skate into the North Star Conference as the top seed and have the chance of punching its first state tourney ticket in 13 seasons. Prior to the beginning of the season, Palmer head coach Brad Hanson thought his team was capable of accomplishing both feats.

“We worked hard in the offseason and came in with the attitude that we could win the conference and put ourselves in a good position to go to the state tournament,” Hanson said after Palmer’s win over Wasilla.

Hanson said an even bigger accomplishment for his squad was evolving from a team that had struggled in the past into program that can consider itself among the conference best.

“I think it’s an important step for us,” said Hanson, who only has four seniors on his varsity team.

“We came in and we had to do something and we did it,” Hanson said, referring to the conference-clinching win over Wasilla. “That’s huge because sometimes you believe you can do it, but you don’t quite know in your heart until you’ve been there. Until you’ve done it, there are still some questions. We kind of go that monkey off our back.”

Palmer finished 9-1-0 in NSC play this season, dropping its only conference game to Soldotna 5-3 on the Kenai Peninsula in January.

Richards, Palmer’s captain, senior Michael Hanson and sophomore Jared Hanson lead the Moose at the forward spot. Ferguson, junior Dylan Danielowski and sophomore Nick Reeves are Palmer’s top blueliners. And the Moose are also deep between the pipes with junior goalies Will Rauchenstein and Jonas Naegele.

Like Palmer, Soldotna (8-1-1) has earned a first-round bye and will take the ice on Friday at the Menard Arena.

The second-seeded Stars lone conference loss of the season came in early December when Palmer edged Soldotna 3-2. On that same road trip, the Stars and Warriors skated to a scoreless tie.

The Wasilla Warriors, who are seeded third and open tourney play against sixth-seeded Homer on Thursday at 7 p.m., could see Soldotna for a third time this season in the tournament.

With a win over Homer, Wasilla would move into the semifinals to face the Stars, who beat the Warriors 4-1 in Soldotna in late January.

Wasilla head coach Bill Sturdevant said if the Warriors do in fact see Soldotna again, a key will be stopping Stars forward Brad Duwe.

“He’s a fantastic player,” Sturdevant said. “When we played them in Soldotna, he step up or scored the first three goals of the game.”

But Sturdevant said the Warriors don’t want to look to far ahead and hope to rebound from consecutive conference losses in the opening round against Homer.

Like the Moose, the Warriors have only four seniors on the squad. But unlike its rival, most of Wasilla’s young talent was new to the varsity level before the beginning of the season.

“We knew as a coaching staff at the beginning of the year we’d have our growing pains,” Sturdevant said. “It’s frustrating to lose those big region games, but we need to let the team make mistakes as a team, let them realize that on their own and come together as a team.”

Wasilla has played the top two teams in the region close, losing to Palmer 1-0 in overtime in December and skating to a scoreless tie with Soldotna earlier that month.

Leading Wasilla is a deep defensive unit captained by senior Dylan Troisi, who has collected three goals and nine assists this season. Troisi is joined on the blueline by another senior, Dominik Frank.

Anchoring that defense is Chris Yaskus, who has a .920 saves percentage this season.

At the forward spot junior Jade Johnston and sophomore Trent Wohlers are tied for the team lead with 10 goals and 11 assists.

In the other quarterfinal game, Colony will face Kenai Central Thursday at 5 p.m.

The Knights, who finished 3-7-0 in conference play, is led by a talented top line that includes Lance Nezaticky, Trevor Nickerson and Kyle Miller.

Among the top underclassmen on a young Colony team is freshman goalie Forrest Savel.

The Kenai-Colony winner will face Palmer on Friday.

The NSC tourney is single elimination and will be capped by the title game, which is slated for Saturday at 7 p.m.

The teams that advance to the conference title game earn an automatic berth to the 4A state tournament which starts Feb. 12 at the Menard Arena.

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

NORTH STAR CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

Thursday: Colony vs. Kenai Central, 5 p.m.; Wasilla vs. Homer, 7 p.m.

Friday: Semifinals: Palmer vs. Colony/Kenai winner, 5 p.m.;

Soldotna vs. Wasilla/Homer winner , 7 p.m.

Saturday: Conference title game