Ties rule Palmer hockey tournament

PALMER — The 2016 Palmer Hockey Showdown will be remembered as the tournament of ties.

During the final two days of the tourney, a combined four games ended in a tie. And there were nearly two more.

“I think we ended up getting everybody pretty even,” Palmer first-year head coach Dean Wilson said of the tournament field after his Moose capped the three-day showdown by skating to a 3-3 tie with East Anchorage. “All the teams pretty hard. It was a good hard weekend.

Six of the eight teams in the field finished with at least one tie in the tournament, which does not feature overtime, per tourney rules. Only Homer (1-2-0) and Lathrop (0-3-0) left without a game knotted at the end of regulation. South Anchorage was crowned the champs after the Wolverines finished 2-0-1 in three days. Wasilla was 1-0-2 in three games. Both Palmer and Colony finished 1-1-1.

“The Anchorage teams come out and are used to doing a little more domination than they were (this weekend),” Wilson said. “But some of these Valley teams are looking good.”

Palmer used a pair of unanswered goals to force the tie against the T-Birds. With the Moose trailing 3-1 late in the second, Noah Keil scored to cut East’s advantage to one. Eleven seconds into the third period, Jaron Ketterman scored for the Moose to tie the game at 3.

“We don’t have a really deep bench, but the kids out there, they’ve got heart,” Wilson said.

Luke Theisen also scored for Palmer. Cody Grogan made 29 saves in net for the Moose.

Earlier in the day Saturday, Wasilla’s Alex Engan scored during the final second of regulation to force a 5-5 tie with Dimond. Wasilla’s Russell Harren scored twice against the Lynx. Garrett Conroy and Dylan Abbott also found the back of the goal for the Warriors.

Wasilla’s Sean Carney made 18 saves.

Wasilla also tied South Anchorage 4-4 on Friday.

The two other games Saturday were decided in the final 90 seconds of play.

South Anchorage’s Ben Trujillo scored with 1:18 left in the third to allow the Wolverines to sneak past Colony 6-5. Homer’s Garrett Butcher netted the game-winner with 1:27 left during a 6-5 victory over Lathrop.

Foster Riekena scored twice during Colony’s loss to South Anchorage. Jake Hessinger, Jacob Kirsch and Alexander Pike also scored. Alex Gamez made 27 saves.

For more about the tournament, and complete results, see frontiersman.com/sports.

Palmer 3, East Anchorage 3

Palmer Hockey Showdown

Saturday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. East- Eddens (unassisted) sh 6:17.

Second period — 2. East- Eddens (Tosi, Ament) 1210: 3. East- Hayes (Ament) 11:56; 4. Palmer- Theisen (Ketterman) 10:45; 5. Palmer- Keil (Ropka) 1:22.

Third period —6. Palmer- Ketterman (Scully, Wilson) 14:49.

Shots on goal: East 12-10-10—32, Palmer 7-5-5—17; Saves: East- Fox 7-3-7—14, Palmer- Grogan 11-8-10—29.

South Anchorage 6, Colony 5

Palmer Hockey Showdown

Saturday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Colony- Hessinger (Kirsch) pp 9:51; 2. South- Kinnear (Gutierrez, Trujillo) pp 0:44; 3. South- Gutierrez (Trujillo) 0:27.

Second period — 4. Colony- Riekena (Smith, Hessinger) 10:14; 5. South- Gutierrez (Trujillo, Allen) pp 9:43; 6. Gutierrez (Trujillo, Kinnear) 9:21; 7. Colony- Kirsch (Monaco) 6:44; 8. Colony- Riekena (Smith, Hessinger) 5:22.

Third period — 9. South- Orr (Sawicki) 11:57; 10. Colony- Fike (Amato) 6:01; 11. South- Trujillo (Kinnear) 1:18.

Shots on goal: South 15-11-7—33, Colony 5-8-4—17; Saves: South- Logan 4-5-2—11, Hogenson x-x-1—1.

Wasilla 5, Dimond 5

Palmer Hockey Showdown

Saturday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Dimond- Gibson (Anaruk, Hausinger) 12:49; 2. Dimond- Carey (Hausinger, Gibson) 12:20; 3. Wasilla- Harren (Lutz) 9:55; 4. Wasilla- Conroy (Harren, Schachle) 3:37.

Second period — 5. Dimond- Peters (Anaruk, Novak) 12:00; 6. Wasilla- Abbott (Harren) 4:25.

Third period — 7. Dimond- Graeber (Hickel, Paek) 8:14; 8. Wasilla- Harren (Schachle) 7:58; 9. Dimond- Peters (Gardeline) 7:34; 10. Wasilla- Engan (Lutz, Conroy) 0:01.

Shots on goal: Dimond 6-10-7—23, Wasilla 12-19-14—45; Saves: Dimond- Hildebrand 10-18-12—40, Wasilla- Carney 4-9-5—18.

Palmer 11, Lathrop 1

Palmer Hockey Showdown

Friday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Palmer- Foster (Keil, Rosenberg) 14:42; 2. Palmer- Foster (E. Armstrong) 10:03; 3. Palmer- Ketterman (unassisted) 8:37; 4. Foster (Keil) pp 2:38; 5. Palmer- Scully (Ketterman, Christiansen) 1:47.

Second period — 6. Palmer- Foster (Rosenberg) 14:43; 7. Palmer- Ketterman (E. Armstrong, Scully) 6:25; 8. Wilson (Ropka) 3:26.

Third period — 9. Palmer- Keil (Welch, Rosenberg) pp 13:42; 10. Lathrop- King (unassisted) 10:31; 11. Palmer- Foster (Ropka) 5:14; 12. Palmer- Foster (Keil, Rosenberg) pp 2:22.

Shots on goal: Lathrop 12-9-7—28, Palmer 9-22-8—39; Saves: Lathrop- Law 4-19-5—28, Palmer- Grogan 12-x-x—12, Winder x-9-6—15.

Colony 3, Dimond 3

Palmer Hockey Showdown

Friday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Dimond- Dearing (Rath) 6:44.

Second period — 2. Colony- Ketchum (Fike) 0:29; 3. Colony- Smith (Riekena, Crosta) 0:06.

Third period — 4. Colony- Hessigner (unassisted) 13:21; 5. Dimond- Dearing (Perius, Peters) 1:57; 6. Dimond- Rath (Dearing) 0:12.

Shots on goal: Dimond 7-5-17—29, Colony 10-14-8—32; Saves: Dimond- Stevens 10-12-7—29, Colony- Diltz 6-5-16—27.

Wasilla 4, South Anchorage 4

Palmer Hockey Showdown

Friday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. South- Janes (unassisted) 13:00; 2. Wasilla- Clark (Matson) 9:49; 3. South- McDonald (unassisted) 2:53.

Second period — 4. Wasilla- Matson (Conroy, Clark) 12:33; 5. Wasilla- Engan (Harren) 10:51; 6. South- Fabeck (Trujillo, Kinnear) 3:50.

Third period — 7. South- Ashley (unassisted) 10:02: 8. Wasilla- Schachle (unassisted) 9:24.

Shots on goal: South 11-2-12—25, Wasilla 12-10-4—26; Saves: South- Logan 11-8-3--22, Wasilla- Carney 9-1-11—21.