Senior scores big goal in Hawks win

WASILLA — In need of a big goal late, the Houston Hawks let their senior captain take care of business.

Zack Lovelace scored the go-ahead goal with 1 minute and 12 seconds left in regulation to help the Hawks grab a key 5-3 Mid-Alaska Conference win over the North Pole Patriots at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena on Thursday.

With the score knotted at 3 in the final minutes of the third, Lovelace picked up the puck in the neutral zone, skated past the blue line and unleashed a wrister from between the circles to snap the tie.

“He kept working, kept skating the puck up and had lots of opportunities,” Houston head coach Mike Styers said after the win. “I told him, keep doing it and things are going to happen. Sure enough, he got the opportunity and got the go-ahead goal.”

Lovelace is a top blueliner for the Hawks, but even as a defenseman the senior has been accustomed to scoring big goals.

“Over the last two to three years he’s got a lot of goals like that,” Styers said.

Lovelace also assisted on his younger brother Jonathon’s empty-netter that iced the game at 5-3 during the final second of the contest. Both goals helped Houston earn a pivotal MAC win.

“This is a big win for us. We pretty much had to win this one to have an opportunity to go to regions. One team’s not going to go, and it’s probably one of us,” Styers said as he motioned back to the North Pole locker room.

There are five currently in the MAC (West Valley, Lathrop, Juneau-Douglas, Houston and North Pole) and only four qualify for the MAC Conference Championships, slated for the first weekend of February. West Valley and Lathrop both advanced to the state tournament last year and are considered favorites to play for the MAC crown again this year. Juneau has already played both Houston and North Pole, and is a combined 4-0 against the Patriots and Hawks. That leaves North Pole and Houston fighting for the conference’s fourth seed.

Houston will play North Pole again in the Interior during the final week of the regular season. Another conference win against the Pats should be enough to get into the MAC tourney, Styers said, assuming the Pats don’t post a big upset against Lathrop or West Valley.

Houston outshot North Pole 61-24 in Thursday’s win. North Pole’s Allan Heineken made 56 saves in the loss.

“Give credit to their goalie. He kept them in there,” Styers said.

The Hawks outshot North Pole 29-5 in the first period. It’s Houston’s first action since mid-December. Typically, coaches see rusty play during the first period of a game following a long break. But Styers said he thought Houston’s play in the first was terrific.

“We came out of the first period, and I thought, man, these guys look as good as they’ve been in any game all year,” Styers said.

North Pole took the early lead, with Jason Donald beating Houston goalie Aaron Allred at the 8:39 mark of the first. But Houston needed only 44 seconds to put together a two-goal spurt later in the frame.

Junior Tim Baletskiy tied the score at 1 at the 6:46 mark. Senior Jake Wells quickly gave the Hawks a 2-1 lead.

Styers said he thought the Hawks slipped in the second.

“The first period, the passing was great. I thought as the game went on, the passing wasn’t the same,” Styers said. “We got a little more lackadaisical as the game went on. We were kind of dominating, and I think it was kind of hard for our guys to maintain.”

Jonathon Lovelace scored shorthanded with 4:29 left in the second to give the Hawks the 3-1 lead, but North Pole was able to cut Houston’s lead back to one goal late in the period. Blake Wade skated between the circles and snapped a wrist shot into the Hawks net with just more than two minutes left in the middle frame.

Wade struck again midway through the third to tie the score at 3. Wade won a battle at the top of the right wing circle and flipped a shot past Allred into the far side of the net.

Despite allowing the game-tying goal, Houston continued to put pucks on net.

“I’m pleased with our guys, they kept composure,” Styers said.

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

Houston 5, North Pole 3

Thursday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. North Pole- Donald (Wade) 8:39; 2. Houston- Baletskiy (J. Lovelace, Styers) 6:46; 3. Houston- Wells (Thistle) 6:02.

Second period — 4. Houston- J. Lovelace (Wells) sh 4:29; 5. North Pole- Wade (Carnley) 2:14.

Third period — 6. North Pole- Wade (Teel) 8:02; 7. Houston- Z. Lovelace (unassisted) 1:12; 8. Houston- J. Lovelace (Z. Lovelace, Wells) en 00:01.

Shots on goal: North Pole 5-9-10—24, Houston 29-20-12—61; Saves: North Pole- Heineken 27-19-10—56, Houston- Allred 4-8-9—21.