Valley hockey teams qualify for nationals

WASILLA — Skating into the Junior Avalanche Hockey Association season, questions surrounded the organization’s U18 AA squad.

The team had a rookie head coach, Ryder Conroy, and at points organizers wondered whether there would be enough players to field a team. But despite the adversity, the Junior Avs collected the talent, and Conroy led the team.

And now the team can boast a state championship as it prepares for its trip to the national tournament in Amherst, New York.

The Junior Avalanche used a 5-3 victory over the Fairbanks-based Arctic Lions at the Dempsey Ice Arena in Anchorage March 6 to win an Alaska state title for the UA18 division, and become one of two Junior Avalanche teams to earn a trip to a USA Hockey youth national tournament. The association’s U16 team also qualified for nationals.

“All the stars aligned,” Conroy said of his U18 team recently. “It’s been a little bit up and down (this season), but I could not have asked for a better team.”

After wondering whether he’d have enough players to create a roster, Conroy, who is also an assistant at Wasilla High, had a collection of talent from both the Wasilla and Palmer sides of the core of the Mat-Su Valley.

“Each year at the comp level, there’s been a Palmer team and a Junior Avs team or (Mat-Su Amateur Hockey Association) team,” Conroy said.

But with a shortage of players eligible to play at the U18 level across the Valley, the Junior Avs did what had not been done at this level in recent memory, creating a team with players from both Wasilla and Palmer. That netted the team many of the top upperclassmen in the Valley from the high school hockey season.

“These are the best kids from each school,” Conroy said.

Many of the players were also new to this level. Chris Dojka and Josh Meyers of Palmer, and Cody Butcher of Wasilla, are the second-year veterans at this level, Conroy said. The remaining players are skating at the U18 level for the first time.

“There were a lot of firsts for everybody. This was my first year as head coach. This was the first year a lot of these kids played together,” Conroy said.

And while there were a lot of firsts, Conroy said the U18 season might mark the last time many of his players get the chance to play hockey. The majority of the team is made up by high school seniors. Conroy said many of those seniors will be stepping away from the game after high school. That’s what made the state tournament so important, Conroy said. The Avs faced possible elimination after a 4-0 loss to the Arctic Lions on March 5. As the team prepared for its game against the Anchorage-based North Stars later that day, Conroy had a simple message for his players.

“All I could say, this could be it. I was getting really personal with them. But they needed to here it,” Conroy said. “This could be there last game.”

Conroy, 23, isn’t far removed from the final game of his own hockey career. Conroy said when he took the ice for the final time, he didn’t know he was at the end of his competitive playing career.

“I didn’t want them to go out there, and then regret it three or four years down the line,” Conroy said. “That’s the last thing I want for these kids.”

Exhausted as everyone was after that 4-0 loss to the Arctic Lions, Conroy’s squad bounced back and recorded a 5-2 victory. Russell Harren and Larson Tubbs, a pair of Wasilla High players, scored two goals each. Another Warrior, Garrett Conroy, added a goal. Palmer High’s Darren Fish, who was named the North Star Conference Player of the Year after the high school season, bagged two assists.

That win set up a rematch with the Arctic Lions in the championship game. The team took advantage, and won the state title with a 5-3 win. Butcher, Garrett Conroy, Dojka, Fish and Meyers scored a goal each.

The team did all of that, despite having only 12 skaters in uniform.

Now with a healthy group of 16, Conroy believes his team has a chance to make some noise in the national tournament. With the natural ability his players possess, Conroy said when his team is playing its game, the squad can be tough to defeat.

“If they go out there and work their butts off, go out and do it, very few teams can beat them,” Conroy said.

The USA Hockey U18 Tier II national tournament is March 31-April 4 in Amherst, New York.

The Jr. Avs U16 AA will compete in the national tournament for a second straight year. This year the team is headed for Wayne, New Jersey, to compete in the tourney, slated for March 31-April 4. The team’s head coach, Jamie Smith said, the accomplishment is part of a historic run for the association.

“To go back to back, and have two teams in one organization go, that’s never happened,” Smith said. “It’s pretty special to get two teams from the same organization going to the national tournament.”

Last season, Smith’s squad finished 2-2 in the national tournament. With a different group of players this year, Smith’s team has a new goal.

“Realistically, to get out of the round-robin play and get to the crossover play is where we want to be,” Smith said.

Smith said he certainly has confidence that his players can do well during the tournament.

The U16 AA finished second at the state tournament in late February, suffering a 3-1 defeat to the Alaska Oilers. The fourth-seeded Avs played the top 3 seeds in the state tourney. Earlier in the tournament, the team beat Kenai 6-2, the Alaska Wolves 6-0, the Oilers 2-1 and the North Stars 3-1.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.