Valley teams compete in youth hockey national tournaments

WASILLA — It’s not often that a Valley-based youth hockey team has the chance to compete in a national championship. But this year, a pair of local squads had the opportunity to compete on a national stage.

The Alaska Junior Avalanche U16 Tier II squad participated in the USA Hockey National Championships in Plano, Texas, and Mat-Su Eagles skated in the U14 USA national youth championships in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Two teams out of the Valley to nationals, that’s never happened,” said Jamie Smith, head coach of the Junior Avalanche U16 squad.

Before this year, it had been a while since a Valley team qualified for a national tournament. In 2009, the Mat-Su Eagles U12 team skated in a national tourney.

That fact that two Valley teams skated in national tournaments this year, Smith said, simply shows that Valley hockey, overall, continues to improve.

“There’s definitely a lot of development going on,” Smith said.

The Junior Avalanche finished 2-2 in the tournament. The Avs beat the Carolina Lightning of North Carolina 4-0 and DYHA Firebirds of Arizona 5-1. The team started 2-0, but suffered a loss to the bracket’s No. 2 seed in round-robin play. Their second loss of the tournament came to a squad from Florida that went on to capture the national title.

“The kids played really well. It was a great experience,” Smith said. “There were a lot of scouts there. It was great for the kids.”

Smith’s team finished the season 32-4. Only one of the four losses came against another team from Alaska.

“For them to finally get an opportunity to get to a national tournament, that says a lot about the talent pool,” Smith said of his players.

The Junior Avs U16 team includes athletes who also play high school hockey at Colony, Palmer and Wasilla. Josh Boyer led the team with 45 points (31 goals, 14 assists). Garrett Conroy added 16-18-34 totals, while Hayden Moistner finished third on the team with 14-17-31 totals. Joey Diltz finished 16-0-1 in the Junior Avalanche net, and Cody Grogan was 12-2-1, while in goal for the team.

The Mat-Su Eagles U14 squad also finished 2-2 in its national tournament. The Eagles opened its tournament with a 4-1 victory over the Ashburn Extreme in Virginia, and followed with a 5-3 win over the Davis Eagles from Utah.

The Eagles finished the season 31-11-1. Porter Schachle led the team with 48 goals, 34 assists and 82 points. Zach Plucinski added 54-21-75 totals. Alexander Gamez led the Eagles in goal, with an 18-6-1 mark.