Warriors bag North Star title

WASILLA — Colton Fletcher is no stranger to having the puck at the blade of his stick, and the sophomore has already scored his share of big goals.

His second score Saturday was probably the biggest of his high school career.

Fletcher weaved through traffic and placed a backhander five-hole with 1 minute and 9 seconds left in regulation to help give the Warriors a 3-2 win over the Soldotna Stars in the Northern Lights Conference Championships title game at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.

“My heart was racing. It felt pretty good,” Fletcher said after the game.

With the teams skating 4 on 4, Fletcher steadily skated throughout the Stars defensive zone. With the puck on Fletcher’s stick, Wasilla coach Jeff Urban said it was time to sit back and watch the sophomore work.

“Just watch, because he can move the puck pretty well,” Urban said. “Sit back and enjoy it. He’s done it before. Big games, big moments, he will step up.”

Fletcher took the puck near the Soldotna blue line, skated past a pair of Stars as he cruised through the right wing circle. He cut back toward the crease, beat the last SoHi defender, and slipped a shot through the blockers of Soldotna goalie Cody Harvey.

“When Fletcher’s got the puck, we’re usually not too worried about whether he’s going to score or not,” Wasilla senior captain Brett Keene said. “He’s pretty good at putting them away.”

Fletcher scored twice in the game. His first came with the Warriors shorthanded and he tied the score at 1. With the Stars on the power play, Fletcher picked off a pass in the SoHi defensive zone. The turnover created a short breakaway and Fletcher beat Harvey, glove side.

About three minutes later, Blake Carricaburu gave the Warriors the 2-1 lead with a blast from the point.

Nick Wrobel used a breakaway goal to give the Stars a 1-0 lead with six minutes left in the first. Dalton Pearson tied the score at 2 when he capitalized on a Wasilla turnover in its defensive zone.

Soldotna was able to sneak a pair of shots into the Warrior net, but the Stars were held to only eight shots in the game.

“On the offensive end, we definitely didn’t generate the offense we would have liked to have, getting the shots,” Soldotna head coach Aaron Swanson said.

Swanson said he was happy with the Stars’ game plan and felt his team had opportunities, but had trouble piling up the shots.

“We were trying to keep it a low scoring game and capitalize on mistakes,” Swanson said.

Urban said the Warriors went into the weekend with an emphasis on puck possession and locking down the defensive end.

“We talked about that before the tournament. Our goal both game was to keep them to 10 shots. I felt like we could do it,” Urban said. “I felt like if we kept the puck deep, and took care of business in our own zone, getting it out, we felt like we could hold any team in this tournament to 10 shots.”

Keene said that’s exactly what the Warriors worked on.

“Our game plan all night was to get the puck in deep and grind it out,” Keene said. “We just played as a team. We had awesome (defense) and our forwards were awesome keeping it in the zone.”

Swanson said it was Soldotna’s goal to capitalize on mistakes, and the Stars did.

In the first, with the Warriors skating through their final seconds of a power play, Wrobel stepped up near Wasilla’s back line and poked away a Wasilla pass. Wrobel chased the loose puck through the neutral zone, split the defense and broke away for the score. In the third, Wasilla left a loose puck at the right wing circle in its own defensive zone, and Pearson smacked it in the Wasilla net.

The Warriors moved into the title game with a 3-0 win over Homer in the semifinals.

Fletcher, Troy Verlplancke and Jack Reeves scored for the Warriors during the win, and Lauren Massie recorded the shutout in the WHS net.

Tegan Harrington centered a pass from behind the net to Verplancke, who lifted a shot high into the Homer to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead in the second period.

Later in the second, Cooper Hanson slipped a puck forward to Fletcher, who broke away and beat Homer goalie Alex Sanarov. The breakaway tally gave Wasilla the 2-0 lead.

Hanson also set up Wasilla’s third goal of the game, a Reeves tally late in the game.

Wasilla and Soldotna both earned state tournament bids. Wasilla face West Anchorage in the first round. The Stars will meet Cook Inlet Conference champion South Anchorage. The tourney starts Thursday in Wasilla.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and find him by searching Valley Sports Huddle on Facebook.

Wasilla 3, Soldotna 2

NSC title game

Saturday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Soldotna- Wrobel (unassisted) 6:06.

Second period — 2. Wasilla- Fletcher (unassisted) sh 8:38; 3. Wasilla- Carricaburu (Verplancke, Reeves) 5:03.

Third period — 4. Soldotna- Pearson (unassisted) 7:08; 5. Wasilla- Fletcher (unassisted) 1:09.

Shots on goal: Wasilla 5-10-10—25, Soldotna 1-5-3—8; Saves: Wasilla- Massie 0-5-2—7, Soldotna- Harvey 5-8-9—22.

Wasilla 3, Homer 0

NSC semifinals

Friday, Menard Arena

First period — no scoring.

Second period — 1. Wasilla- Verplancke (Harrington) 9:15; 2. Wasilla- Fletcher (Hanson) 6:54.

Third period — 3. Wasilla- Reeves (Hanson) 1:09.

Shots on goal: Homer 6-5-6—17, Wasilla 9-11-11—31; Saves: Homer- A. Sanarov 9-9-10—28, Wasilla- Massie 6-5-6—17.