South rally in third upends Warriors

WASILLA — For the second time in two weeks, the South Anchorage Wolverines used a two-goal rally to score a win over the Wasilla Warriors.

South Anchorage posted a pair of third-period goals Friday to earn a 2-1 win over the Warriors at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

“It was one of those games I think could have gone either way tonight,” Wasilla head coach Bill Sturdevant said. “I thought we played well. South is an excellent team, and well-coached.”

South forward Tayler Wells smacked home a rebound at the 8:32 mark to tie the score at 1-1 and defenseman Sage Welch fired a low shot from the blue line for the go-ahead score with 1:58 left to play.

South forward Kyle Simmons helped set the table for the game-winning score when he picked up a lose puck in the neutral zone while the Warriors were on a line change.

Simmons skated into the zone and threw a shot into the chest pad of Wasilla goalie Chris Yaskus. The puck bounced back to the point where Welch picked it up and threw it to the net.

“It was an unfortunate thing to happen,” Sturdevant said.

Junior Trent Wohlers scored with 11:41 left in the first to give Wasilla the early lead. Wohlers picked up a lose puck at the left circle and tucked a shot into the near side of the net, right between the pipe and the pads of South goalie Ryan Lund.

Sturdevant said Wohlers’ goal was an example of his team’s ability to take advantage of opportunities. Overall, Sturdevant said his team knew Wasilla needed to find the back of the net more than once to score the victory.

“It’s hard to make one goal last throughout the game,” Sturdevant said.

Wasilla goalie Chris Yaskus recorded 30 saves and stopped all 17 shots he saw in the first two periods.

“I thought Yaskus played phenomenal,” Sturdevant said. “He definitely gave us the chance to win. He controlled the puck well, saw the ice well.”

Sturdevant also praised the work of his blueliners, a group led by the likes of sophomores Chancie Hanson and Michael Johnston.

“Our defense did a good job of allowing him to see most of the shots,” Sturdevant said.

Wasilla dropped to 2-3 with the loss. All three of the team’s losses have come to either South or Dimond.

South Anchorage 2, Wasilla 1

Friday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Wasilla- Wohlers (unassisted) 11:41.

Second period — no scoring.

Third period — 2. South- Wells (Onstott) 8:32, 3. South- Welch (unassisted) 1:58.

Shots on goal: South 7-10-15—32, Wasilla 7-5-9—21; Saves: South- Lund 6-5-9—20, Wasilla- Yaskus 7-10-13—30

Forward nets hat

trick in Moose win

PALMER — Junior Steven Acher netted a hat trick and senior Will Rauchenstein stood strong in the Palmer net to lead the Palmer Moose to a 3-1 North Star Conference win over the Colony Knights at the Palmer Ice Arena on Friday.

Acher scored in each of the three periods for the Moose and Rauchenstein stopped 42 of the 43 Colony shots he faced during the victory. Chris Sawyer busted the Palmer bid for the shutout, scoring with 2:24 left in the third.

Palmer 3, Colony 1

Friday, Palmer Ice Arena

First period — 1. Palmer- Acher (Naegele, Harrison) 0:06.

Second period — 2. Palmer- Acher (unassisted) 2:00.

Third period — 3. Palmer- Acher (Good, Staskywicz) 6:07, 4. Colony- Sawyer (Carter, Nezaticky) 2:24.

Shots on goal: Colony 14-7-22—43, Palmer 5-13-5—23, Saves: Colony- Savel 4-12-4—20, Palmer- Rauchenstein 14-7-21—42.