Underclassmen lead Wasilla Warriors to win over rival

WASILLA — Last year it was not unusual to see six or even seven freshmen skate regularly in the Wasilla varsity lineup.

Now those freshmen are sophomores, and Wasilla’s stellar sophomore class is a big reason why the Warriors have already locked up the top seed in the upcoming North Star Conference championships.

Thursday, sophomores scored all four Wasilla goals and Wasilla sophomore goalie Lauren Massie earned the shutout during a 4-0 win over the Palmer Moose at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

“From the amount of experience they got last year, the amount they contributed last year, bringing that this year and helping out the older kids, that has a lot to do with our success,” Wasilla coach Jeff Urban said after the win.

Sophomore Tanner Schachle scored twice, and fellow 10th-graders Blake Carricaburu and Colton Fletcher added goals to help the Warriors improve to 9-0 in NSC play. Massie stopped all 10 shots he saw.

Schachle and Fletcher each scored in a second period in which the Warriors outshot the Moose 18-2.

Early in the second period, Fletcher took the puck up the right wing and slipped a pass to Schachle, who buried a shot from the left wing doorstep. Later in the period, with the Warriors on the power play, Schachle fed Fletcher the puck, and Fletcher crossed the face of the Palmer goal and put a quick move on Moose goalie Ashton Good before scoring.

Fletcher also set up Schachle’s goal 52 seconds into the third period.

Carricaburu put the Warriors ahead early in the first, rocketing a shot from the left point past Good.

Palmer’s junior goalie, Good, had another big save in net for the Moose. Good stopped 37 of the 41 pucks he saw. Wednesday Good made 47 saves during an 8-4 loss to West. Good has a combined 144 saves in his last four games, an average of 36 per game.

Wasilla allowed only five Palmer shots during the final two periods of the game.

“The last two periods were kind of what we talked about in the locker room after the first period — buckling down on defense,” Urban said.

Eagles get past Moose

PALMER — Junior goalie Ashton Good made 47 saves, but West Anchorage was able to grab an 8-4 win over the Palmer Moose at the MTA Events Center in Palmer.

Jacob Inukai, Cody Rissew, Luke Wright and Hayden Shults scored for the Moose.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and find him by searching Valley Sports Huddle on Facebook.

Wasilla 4, Palmer 0

Thursday, Brett Memorial Ice Arena

First period — 1. Wasilla- Carricaburu (Hanson, Reeves) 10:51.

Second period — 2. Wasilla- Schachle (Fletcher, Cooley) 12:23; 3. Wasilla- Fletcher (Schachle) pp 4:36.

Third period — 4. Wasilla- Schachle (Fletcher) 14:08.

Shots: Palmer 5-2-3—10, Wasilla 8-18-15—41; Saves: Palmer- Good 7-16-14—37, Wasilla- Massie 5-2-3—10.

West Anchorage 8,

Palmer 4

Wednesday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Palmer- Inukai (unassisted) 10:34; 2. West- Cope (Gustafson, Schwann) 5:45; 3. West- Gustafson (Teders, Osgood) 2:56; 4. Palmer- Rissew (unassisted) 1:07.

Second period — 5. Palmer- Wright (penalty shot) 12:45; 6. West- Kuiper (Schwann) 10:00; 7. West- Bardsley (Osgood, Schwann) 9:13; 8. West- Bardsley (Osgood, Gustafson) 8:31; 9. West- Kelly (Osgood) 2:21; 10. West- M. Osgood (Gustafson) 1:39; 11. Palmer- Shults (Inukai, Moistner) 1:21.

Third period — 12. West- Kelly (Batman, Bruner) 0:13.

Shots on goal: West 11-25-19—55, Palmer 10-6-4—20; Saves: West- Checken 8-4-4—16, Palmer- Good 10-20-18—47.