POWER IN PLAY

WASILLA — Wasilla managed to kill seven Soldotna power plays during the first two periods, but Warriors coach Bill Sturdevant knew it was only a matter of time before the Stars would cash in with the man advantage.

But fortunatley for Wasilla, Sturdevant’s squad scored a pair of late goals to help the Warriors overcome a trio of Soldotna third-period power-play goals during a 4-3 North Star Conference win over the Stars at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena on Thursday.

“We dodged a bullet early in the game, but the law of averages are going to catch up to you,” Sturdevant said. “And it nearly bit us.”

Juniors Zach Korsmo and Trent Wohlers scored during the third to give the Warriors just enough get past the Stars and improve to 5-1 in North Star play.

“We got some breathing room in the third period,” Sturdevant said.

And those goals prove to be crucial, especially considering Soldotna’s third-period work on the power play.

Zach Waters and Sean Endsley each posted power-play goals during a 19-second span very early in the third period.

Josh Harvey scored on another Soldotna power play, with 1:19 left in regulation.

“I’m proud of the guys for battling,” Soldotna head coach Aaron Swanson said. “We got close, just couldn’t quite get close enough.”

Soldotna opened both the second and third periods skating with the 5-on-3 advantage, and early in the third the Stars cashed in.

Twenty seconds into the final frame, Waters picked up a loose puck between the circles and fired a shot past Wasilla goalie Chris Yaskus. Nineteen seconds later, Endsley sent a wrist shot from the right circle, then got his own rebound and put a shot in the upper shelf of the far side of the net.

Knowing the Stars would open the third with another 5-on-3, Swanson said his team mapped out a plan during the second intermission.

“It was nice having a little bit of time between periods to talk about it a little bit,” Swanson said. “The kids came out and executed it just like we talked about.”

Sturdevant said the abundance of penalties simply caught up to the Warriors.

“I think we played real undisciplined hockey there for two periods,” Sturdevant said. “If you play undisciplined hockey agianst a team like Soldotna, they’re going to make you pay eventually.”

Brett Keene and Eric Marshall scored during the first two periods to give Wasilla the early two-goal lead.

Keene put the Warriors on the board when he knocked a Marshall rebound past Soldotna goalie William Granger, with 5:52 left in the first.

Midway through the second, Marshall poked a puck past Granger to give Wasilla the 2-0 advantage.

After Soldotna tied the score at 2, Korsmo brought a puck from behind the Soldota net, and slipped it under the stick of Granger.

Wohlers provided what proved to be the game-winner, when he took a short Jeremiah Walker pass in front of the net, and stuck it upper shelf.

Wasilla outshot the Stars 42-17 in the game.

“It doesn’t matter who they’re playing,” Swanson said. “That’s they’re plan, throw a lot of pucks at you every night. They do a nice job of shooting, and going for the rebounds. We know they’re going to do that, and even know we know they’re going to do that, they still do it to us.”

Granger stopped 38 of those shots, and made 15 saves in the first period.

“We have two great goaltenders,” Swanson said. “Granger played for us tonight and did a real nice job. We feel like whichever one we put in the net is going to give us a chance.”

Yaskus made 14 saves for the Warriors.

Wasilla continues play today, hosting Kenai Central at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena at 7 p.m. Soldotna stays at the Menard to play Colony at 7 p.m.

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

Wasilla 4, Soldotna 3

Thursday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Wasilla- Keene (Marshall) 6:41.

Second period — 2. Wasilla- Marshall (Korsmo) 5:18.

Third period — 3. Soldotna- Waters (unassisted) pp 14:40; 4. Soldotna- Endsley (unassisted) pp 14:21; 5. Wasilla- Korsmo (Hanson) pp 11:07; 6. Wasilla- Wohlers (Walker, Hanson) 5:23; 7. Soldotna- Harvey (Waters, Fellman) pp 1:19.

Shots on goal: Soldotna 3-7-7—17, Wasilla 16-13-13—42; Saves: Soldotna- Granger 15-12-11—38, Wasilla- Yaskus 3-7-4—14; Power plays: Soldotna 3-for-10, Wasilla 1-for-4; Penalties: Soldotna 4-for-8, Wasilla 12-for-32.