Prep hockey: Penalty kill powers Wasilla

WASILLA — Sometimes Wasilla head coach Bill Sturdevant feels his Warriors hockey squad is at their best when they’re a man down.

The Warriors iced a 6-1 nonconference win over Bartlett with three shorthanded goals in the final five minutes of play.

“That’s the funny thing with this team,” Sturdevant said following the win. “If I could figure out how to tap into that urgency, even strength or on the power play, we’d be a force.”

Wasilla’s potent penalty killing units also stoned the Bears on all eight of Bartlett’s power-play opportunities.

Senior Adam Friese netted the hat trick, and scored two of his goals while the Warriors were shorthanded. Senior Dane Wilson posted a power-play goal and a shorthanded tally. Junior Levi Johnston also scored for Wasilla (3-4).

Friese and Wilson each scored on a single Bartlett power play late in the game.

Friese beat Bartlett netminder Erick Eckborg with a quick shot with 4 minutes and 37 seconds left in regulation. Wilson, with an assist from Friese, scored shorthanded 28 seconds later.

Friese capped his four-point night with a shorthanded goal with 14 seconds left in the game.

That goal came while the Bears were skating with a two-man advantage.

“Adam was in the zone tonight,” Sturdevant said.

Friese scored his first goal of the game midway through second period. The score came while Wasilla skated on a seven-minute power play, and was one of two power-play goals for Wasilla during that stretch.

With the score tied 1-1, Bartlett forward Tyler Sewell was called for a two-minute minor and five-minute major for slashing Wasilla blueliner Jordan Elkins.

After a stoppage of play, Sewell was on his hands and knees between the circles in front of the Bartlett goal. When Sewell got up, he spun around and whacked Elkins with his stick in the back of Elkins’ legs.

Sturdevant said he did see what led to the slash, but judging by the fact the Warriors were not whistled for any infractions, he doesn’t believe the McSorley-like move was in retaliation to anything Wasilla did.

Regardless of the motive, the home run cut with a hockey stick proved to be a pivotal point in the game.

Wasilla took a 3-1 lead during the long power play, with goals from Friese and Wilson.

Twenty seconds into the power play, Friese took a pass from defenseman Dylan Troisi and standing right in front of the Bartlett goal, Friese lifted the puck into the upper shelf of the net.

Later in the power play, Johnston sent a pass from the corner to Elkins, who was crashing the Bartlett net. Eckborg made a stellar save to thwart the Elkins’ opportunity, but couldn’t control the rebound. Wilson, on the goalies’ stick side, popped the puck in the net.

The Warriors out-shot Bartlett 33-20 in the contest. Wasilla had a 12-2 advantage in shots in the first, but Sturdevant felt that stretch was certainly not Wasilla’s best period of hockey.

“We played really sloppy in the first,” Sturdevant said. “I was pleased we regrouped in the second and continued to build in the third.”

Wasilla netminder Jake Dargis turned away 19 Bartlett shots in the win. The only goal Dargis allowed was a shorthanded score in the first.

With Wasilla skating on the power play, a puck deflected off a stick in the Barlett zone and squirted down the boards on the left side of the ice. Bartlett forward Tommy Johnson hustled down to get the puck, and was able to get a short wrist shot off before the Wasilla blueliners were able to catch up.

Wasilla continues an early-season stretch that’s loaded with Anchorage opponents when the Warriors face Dimond tonight at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena. The first puck is slated to drop at 7 p.m.

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

Wasilla 6, Bartlett 1

Thursday, Brett Memorial Ice Arena

First period — 1. Wasilla- Johnston (Wilson, Barkley) 14:00, 2. Bartlett- Johnson (unassisted) sh 3:15.

Second period — 3. Wasilla- A. Friese (Troisi) pp 8:46, 4. Wasilla- Wilson (Elkins, Johnston) pp 2:49.

Third period — 5. Wasilla- A. Friese (unassisted) sh 4:37, 6. Wasilla- Wilson (A. Friese) sh 4:09, 7. Wasilla- A. Friese (unassisted) sh 00:14.

Shots on goal: Bartlett 19, Wasilla 33; Saves: Bartlett- Eckberg 32, Wasilla- Dargis 18.