Prep hockey teams skate into tourney

WASILLA — The Wasilla Warriors are the lowest-seeded Mat-Su team in the North Star Conference Championships, and are among four squads that will need two wins this weekend to qualify for the state tournament.

Despite all of that, Wasilla could be more motivated to win than any team in the tourney.

Why?

The Warriors host the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Hockey Championships in February.

“To not be in state and have to be there as the host school is not a good feeling,” Wasilla head coach Bill Sturdevant said. “The seniors on the team know what it’s like to not make the state tournament.”

Wasilla (5-4-1) will need wins over Kenai (2-7-1) and top-ranked Soldotna (8-2-0) to advance to the North Star championship game and qualify for the state tournament for the third straight year.

The top two teams in the NSC earn automatic berths to the state tournament.

Fourth-seeded Wasilla will open region tournament play Thursday against fifth-seeded Kenai at the Soldotna Sports Center in Soldotna. The Warriors are 0-1-1 against the Kards. The rivals skated to a 1-1 tie in Soldotna in December, and Wasilla suffered a 2-0 loss to Kenai in Wasilla earlier this month.

Both games left the Warriors frustrated, especially the loss. Wasilla outshot Kenai 40-10 in the game.

“Those are the ones that have you walking away from the rink shaking your head,” Sturdevant said. “Definitely, really frustrating. We have to show up this Thursday ready to play.”

The Wasilla-Kenai winner will play top-seeded Soldotna in the semifinals on Friday. Wasilla is 1-1-0 against the Stars. Wasilla beat Soldotna 3-2 in overtime earlier this month.

The other side of the bracket features a pair of Valley teams, second-ranked Palmer (6-3-1) and third-seeded Colony (6-3-1). Like Soldotna, Palmer has a first-round bye, and the Moose will play either Colony or sixth-seeded Homer on Friday. The winner of that game moves into the championship match and will punch its state tourney ticket.

Colony head coach Jamie Smith said he likes the side of the bracket the Knights are on, and knows Colony can’t think too far ahead, even though its first-round opponent sports just a 1-9-0 record.

“You can’t overlook them,” Smith said of Homer.

The Mariners earned their first conference win of the year on the final day of the regular season, scoring a 2-1 victory over Kenai. Smith said Homer has good goaltending and better depth than in the past.

Palmer was the lone team in the conference to have the final week of the regular season off.

“I really would like to have played, but we had a nice week of practice,” Palmer head coach Brad Hanson said. “We’re feeling pretty good, feel like we’ve worked out a few of the kinks, a few of the bugs.”

Palmer will play the Colony-Homer winner. The Moose are 2-0 against the Mariners and 1-0-1 against the Knights. Judging by the parity in the conference this year, Hanson said it could be anyone’s tournament to win.

“It’s real competitive this year,” Hanson said. “I think, with a little bit of luck, anybody in the conference this year could have a shot of playing on Saturday.”

The tourney opens Thursday with Colony facing Homer at 5 p.m. The Kenai-Wasilla game will follow at 7 p.m. Palmer plays either Colony or Homer Friday at 5 p.m. and Soldotna hosts Kenai or Wasilla Friday at 7 p.m.

The championship game is slated for Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.