Valley players help Eagle River team win national title

PALMER — Four Valley hockey players helped an Eagle River team make program history recently.

Braden Brunnhoelzl of Palmer, and Wasilla’s Dayne Cole, Porter Schachle and Gunnar Stadem, helped the Eagle River-based Alaska Blue Devils win the USA Hockey Peewee Tier II U-12 National Championships in Ashburn, Va., early this month. The Blue Devils scored a 3-0 win over the Affton (Mo.) Americans in the title game on April 1 to give the Mustang Hockey Association its first national championship in association history.

“It was a great tournament. These kids peaked at the right time,” Blue Devils coach Chris Brunnhoelzl said. “We went down there on a mission. I think we were ready when we got there. Everybody took it serious.”

The Blue Devils finished 5-1 in the national tournament, suffering their only loss to Affton during pool play. Affton won that game 6-3.

Braden Brunnhoelzl, a seventh-grader at Colony Middle School, scored his team’s first goal in the title game, a shorthanded tally. Brunnhoelzl finished second on the team in scoring with seven points, recording a goal and six assists.

Stedem, a Teeland Middle School student, was fourth on the team with six points, four goals and two assists.

Schachle, who attends Machetanz Elementary, finished with a goal and two assists in the tournament. Cole, a Wasilla Middle School student, had an assist in six games.

The Blue Devils also beat teams from Maryland, North Carolina, Washington and Virginia during the tournament.

The elder Brunnhoelzl said all four Valley players factored heavily into the team’s success. Braden Brunnhoelzl and Schachle are both centers, while Stedem and Cole play defense.

Brunnhoelzl said he thought this team, which also includes a dozen Eagle River players, would do well.

“I was pretty confident we’d make it to the tournament. As we got closer, we had a lot of confidence in these kids,” Brunnhoelzl said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.