UPDATE: More prep events canceled; Avalanche series against Brown Bears in Wasilla to go as planned

Frontiersman

WASILLA —The plans of a handful of Mat-Su high school varsity teams were changed Friday due persistent poor weather, but the Alaska Avalanche junior hockey program’s weekend series against Kenai River will go on as planned.

Cross country skiing teams from Colony, Palmer, Wasilla and Susistna Valley were scheduled to compete in the Skyview Invitational in Soldotna on Friday and Saturday, but Mat-Su School District officials opted to cancel trips for extracurricular activities that required a trip to the Kenai Peninsula this weekend, Wasilla High School assistant principal Dan Michael said.

Michael said reports of the road conditions along the Seward Highway were too bad to risk taking the trip.

That decision also effected scheduled trips for the Wasilla and Houston basketball programs. The Wasilla girls, as well as the Houston boys and girls basketball squads were slated to compete in the Nikiski Tip-Off at Nikiski High School this weekend. That trip was also canceled.

The Wasilla boys basketball team is part of the eight-team field of the Alaska Airlines Classic, hosted by West Anchorage High School. The tourney was slated to start Thursday, but the first day of the tourney was canceled. Tourney play started Friday at 3 p.m. Wasilla opens tourney play against Dimond at 6:30 p.m.

Teams will play two games on Saturday.

The Houston hockey team was able to salvage part of a three-day trip to Fairbanks. The Hawks’ game against North Pole on Thursday was postponed until Saturday. The Hawks flew to Fairbanks, HHS activities director Norm Bouchard said, and arrived just in time to face West Valley on Friday. By postponing Thursday’s game, Houston will play both Lathrop and North Pole on Saturday.

At Palmer High School, the Moose girls’ basketball game at Service High School on Thursday was canceled, but the Palmer boys will make the trip to Anchorage to play Service on Friday night.

Valley prep teams didn’t make scheduled trips to the Kenai Peninsula, but the Kenai River Brown Bears will make it to Wasilla to play a two-game series against the Alaska Avalanche at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena. The series starts Friday.