PeeWees win bulldog tourney

ANCHORAGE -- The Matanuska Amateur Hockey Association Eagles took first place Sunday in the PeeWee level of the 2001 Bulldog Invitational Hockey Tournament held at the Tesoro Center in Anchorage.

"We had real solid goal tending, which gave the team an opportunity to win," said coach Paul Friese. "The kids played well as a team."

Eight teams from around the state participated in the tournament, with the eight teams broken into two divisions of four teams.

The tournament used a round-robin format that called for each team to play the other teams in its division Friday and Saturday, awarding two points for a win and one point for a tie.

The Eagles went undefeated through division play, with wins over the Anchorage All-Stars, Fairbanks Northern Knights, and the Alaska Blue Devils of Eagle River.

The Eagles went on to defeat the Kenai Icehawks Sunday morning in the semifinal game.

The Eagles met the host Bulldogs of the Anchorage Boys and Girls Club to decide the championship Sunday evening.

The Eagles struck first when defenseman Kaleb Westfall scored a goal on a one-timer set up by a draw pass from center Blake Huppert in the early minutes of the game.

The Bulldogs scored later in the period to tie the score at 1-1.

Heady play by Adam Friese gave the Eagles the second goal of the game when Friese snared a rebound near the Bulldog goal and knocked in the puck.

The goal came in the second period and gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead.

The Eagles shifted to defensive play to protect the lead and held off the Bulldogs to capture the tournament championship by a score of 2-1.

"This was quite an accomplishment for Valley Hockey," said Friese. "We went up against some of the best teams in the state and beat them."