ROUGH ROUND 1

WASILLA — Before the Wasilla Warriors could blink, South Anchorage was sporting an early lead.

South forward Kyle Simmons scored 39 seconds into regulation and the Wolverines posted a trio of first-period goals en route to a 7-0 win over the Warriors during the first round of the 2011 First National Cup 4A state hockey championships at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla on Thursday night.

After a loss, which pushed Wasilla into a consolation semifinal date with Lathrop today at 10:15 a.m. at the Menard, Warrior head coach Bill Sturdevant wondered just how much that early Wolverine goal played into Wasilla’s quarterfinal loss.

“It’s hard to know if we were just flat or if that first goal in the first 40 seconds wiped us out,” Sturdevant said. “We were definitely flat.”

Zach Aregood notched the hat trick and Simmons scored twice to help South move into the championship semifinals, where the Wolverines will face East Anchorage tonight at 8 p.m. The Wolverine win also capped a perfect day for the Cook Inlet Conference. The Anchorage league passed all four of its teams into the semifinal round.

South outshot Wasilla 31-17 in the win, but 14 of those shots came in a third period that featured five Wolverine power plays.

“We came out in the second and played well in the second period, but in the third we lost our composure,” Sturdevant said. “We can’t give ourselves an opportunity to get back into the game if you’re trying to kill stuff off, especially against a team like South.”

South scored three times on the power play in the victory and added a shorthanded tally. With the 2-0 lead, Aregood went 5-hole to grab the power-play tally with 51 seconds left in the first.

Late in the second, Simmons scored with the man advantage to give South the 5-0 advantage. That was the forward’s second goal of the game.

In the third, with South skating two men strong, Justin Gutierrez deflected a Gunnar Merrick shot from the point into the Warrior net to wrap up the South scoring. Early in the third, Conor Nicoll sent a loose pass up the ice to Aregood, who earned the shorthanded breakaway score for South.

Nicoll also scored in the game, leading an odd-man rush before sending a sharp shot from the left wing circle into the far side of the net.

Wasilla was held to only three shots in the first, but had a nice offensive stretch early in the second. The Warriors outshot South 6-1 during the first eight minutes of the middle frame, but was not able to sneak a puck past senior goalie Trevor Gutierrez, who recorded the 17-save shutout.

“As the game went on, he just got stronger and stronger,” Sturdevant said of the South netminder.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com

South 7, Wasilla 0

Thursday, Menard Arena

First period – 1. South- Simmons (Olson, Bain) 14:21; 2. South- Aregood (J.Gutierrez) 9:09; 3. South- Aregood (Orizotti, J. Gutierrez) pp 0:51.

Second period – 4. South- Nicoll (unassisted) 5:34; 5. South- Simmons (Welch, Nokelby) pp 3:32.

Third period—6. South- Aregood (Nicoll) sh 14:31; 7. South- J. Gutierrez (Merrick, Lindberg) pp 1:45.

Shots: South 31, Wasilla 17.