Valley teams have tough first round at Menard Memorial

WASILLA — Opening up the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Hockey Tournament on Thursday, the Wasilla Warriors went up against the East Anchorage Thunderbirds for a tough first round.

Fresh off a couple of emotional wins over Colony and Service last weekend, the Wasilla Warriors opened the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Hockey Tournament Thursday with a tough 3-1 loss to East Anchorage.

The first period saw the teams combine to put one goal on the board, an East score halfway through the period.

“We came out slow and it took us a couple of periods to get it together,” Wasilla junior forward Jack Reeves said.

The second period demonstrated this with no goal scoring; just back-and-forth play on the ice for the Warriors and the Thunderbirds.

With the score still close at 1-0 in the third, East put the game away by putting back-to-back pucks in the net within a minute of each other. The Warriors avoided the shutout when junior forward Jack Reeves scored, assisted by Brett Keene and Andrew Cooley. Even with the defeat, Wasilla out-shot East, putting 41 pucks on the Thurderbird net. On the other end, Warrior starting netminder Lauren Massie made 26 saves on 29 shots.

Today, the Warriors continue Menard tournament play, facing Houston at 2:45 p.m., at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla.

Homer 4, Houston 1

That showdown was made possible by a 4-1 Houston loss to Homer, the Hawks’ second loss to the Mariners in a week. They teams met last weekend in the finals of the Homer tournament. The winner of today’s Wasilla-Houston game advances to Saturday’s third-place game.

On Thursday, the teams skated to a scoreless first period and most of the second before exploding in the final stanza. Homer ended the second period with a goal to break the tie and didn’t quit hitting the back of the net until the last minute of the third.

Houston senior forward Johan Shuey lessened the sting with the only goal for the Hawks, who put 37 shots on Homer’s net. Junior goaltender Rhys Jones made 33 saves on 37 shots for Houston.

South 10, Palmer 0

Another rematch of an early-season game came when Palmer faced South Anchorage, a team that beat the Moose 7-0 in their first game of the season. On Thursday, the South Wolverines picked up where they left off, blanking Palmer 10-0. The loss pairs the Moose with cross-town rival Colony in today’s first game, set to drop the puck at 12:30 p.m. at the Menard.

South stared it scoring early with a quick one-timer and didn’t let up on the accelerator as the Moose struggled to keep the puck out of their zone much of the game.

While South faced only nine shots all game, Palmer’s junior goaltender Ashton Goode saw plenty of action, making 47 saves on 57 shots.

“The effort was there, we just need to keep working and getting better as a team. We gave up too many turnovers in that game and need to keep the puck going in the positive direction,” Palmer assistant coach Tim Popowski said after the game.

Lathrop 3, Colony 1

Much like South, Lathrop skated out to a fast lead and didn’t let up in a 3-1 win over Colony on Thursday, setting up today’s game with rival Palmer.

The Malemutes were aggressive, catching the Knights off-guard to poke three pucks into the Colony net before the end of the first period.

Contact reporter Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

Curtis C. Menard II

Memorial Hockey

Tournament

Thursday-Saturday, Wasilla

Thursday

Game 1: Lathrop 3, Colony 1

Game 2: South 10, Palmer 0

Game 3: Homer 4, Houston 1

Game 4: East 3, Wasilla 1

Friday

Game 5: Colony vs. Palmer 12:30 p.m.

Game 6: Houston vs. Wasilla 2:45 p.m.

Game 7: Lathrop vs. South 5 p.m.

Game 8: Homer vs. East 7:15 p.m.

Saturday

Game 9: Loser game 5 vs. loser game 6 12:30 p.m.

Game 10: Winner game 5 vs. winner game 6 2:45 p.m.

Game 11 (3rd-place game): Loser game 7 vs. loser game 8 5 p.m.

Game 12 (championship game): winner game 7 vs. winner game 8 7:15 p.m.