Special teams power Moose past Wasilla

PALMER — It’s been a while since the Palmer Moose skated to a prep hockey win over rival Wasilla.

Feb. 5, 2011 to be exact.

That means no player on the Palmer roster has ever beaten Wasilla.

Until Friday night.

Palmer used three first-period goals to score a 6-2 victory over the Wasilla Warriors at the MTA Events Center in Palmer. The Moose snapped a six-game losing streak against the Warriors. Before Friday, Palmer’s last win over the Warriors came in the 2011 North Star Conference championship game.

“It’s a huge deal for us,” Palmer junior Darren Fish said after the victory. “It’s our first conference game of the year too. It’s a big win for us.”

Fish netted a hat trick for the Moose, and used his four-point night (three goals and an assist) to help Palmer improve to 1-0 in North Star play. Chris Dojka added a pair of goals, and Matthew Bembenek also found the back of the net.

Dojka’s first tally came on the power play. The Dojka goal at the 9:32 mark not only gave Palmer the lead in the game, but its first goal against the Warriors in three years. Wasilla took a streak of four straight shutouts against Palmer into the game Friday.

Other than erasing a pair of arduous streaks, Palmer also reversed a recent trend with it’s three-goal first period.

“The first period is normally our toughest time,” Fish said. “I think by getting the edge on them, it gave us a huge advantage.”

Palmer assistant coach Tim Popowksi agreed.

“We’ve been giving up some early goals. Our goal tonight was not to do that,” Popowksi said. “That really helped us out.”

Wasilla’s first tally came with less than a minute left in the first period. Russell Harren, parked in front of the net, knocked in a backhander to put the Warriors on the scoreboard. But by then, the Moose had already put three pucks in the net.

Palmer used its special teams to build the lead. In addition to Dojka’s power-play tally, Fish grabbed a pair of shorthanded goals within a five-minute span of the first. Fish picked off a pass in transition, skated free and snapped a shot into the net at the 6:37 mark to give the Moose a 2-0 lead. Just about five minutes later, defenseman Josh Meyers picked up a loose puck for the Moose. Feeding a pass through Taylor Foster, the Meyers play helped set up the second shorthanded goal for Fish in the period.

“Getting a couple shorties really helped,” Popowski said. “We’ve emphasized work harder on the penalty kill. It paid off tonight.”

Bembenek scored early in the second period to give the Moose the 4-1 lead. Fish completed his hat trick at the 7:02 mark of the second. Reagan Rice pulled a puck off the back wall and centered a pass to Fish, who found the back of the net. Dojka added his second goal of the game with 2:53 left in the third.

Wasilla outshot Palmer 35-24 in the loss. Larsen Tubbs also scored for Wasilla, netting a goal with 2:47 left in the second.

Wasilla outshot Palmer 35-24 in the loss, but Palmer goaltender Cody Grogan made 33 saves.

Palmer 6, Wasilla 2

Friday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Palmer- Dojka (Bembenek, Keil) pp 9:32; 2. Palmer- Fish (unassisted) sh 6:37; 3. Palmer- Fish (Foster, Meyers) 1:08; 4. Wasilla- Harren (Brunnhoelzl, Morrison) 0:59.

Second period — 5. Palmer- Bembenek (Dojka, Dietz) 9:18; 6. Palmer- Fish (Rice, Foster) 7:02; 7. Wasilla- Tubbs (Park) 2:47.

Third period — 8. Palmer- Dojka (Fish, Bembenek) 2:53.

Shots on goal: Wasilla 15-4-16—35, Palmer 9-9-6—24; Saves: Wasilla- Verplancke 6-5-x—11, Curry x-2-5—7.