Warriors bounce back to beat rival Moose

PALMER — Early in the first period, the Wasilla Warriors found themselves in familiar territory — trailing Palmer. But it took less than a minute for Warrior defenseman William Harren to help turn it all around.

Harren sparked the Warriors, scoring 43 seconds after the Moose tallied their first goal, and Wasilla carried the momentum to a 6-2 win over Palmer at the MTA Events Center in Palmer on Friday.

“It was unreal. You could feel the ice tilt their way, but when (William) put that one in the net, you felt it go right back,” Wasilla senior captain Chancie Hanson said after the win.

Palmer’s Jack Reeves scored less than three minutes into play to give the Moose the early 1-0 lead. But rather than allow the Moose to repeat history (Palmer grabbed the momentum early during a 5-0 drubbing of the Warriors in Wasilla in mid-December), Harren helped change the game when he picked up a puck between the circles and sent a blind wrist shot past Palmer goalie Ashton Good.

“I’m not going to lie, I was a little scared when they scored,” Hanson said. “We just came together.”

Hanson said the Warriors — who suffered tough losses to North Star Conference rivals Palmer, Soldotna and Colony during the first half of the season — knew they had this type of performance in them.

“I think we knew it the whole time, but we still hadn’t put it all together,” Hanson said. “We’ve been waiting to do this for a while now.”

Wasilla head coach Bill Sturdevant said Wasilla’s ability to answer the Reeves goal proves his team’s potential.

“The way we played the first semester, we knew that wasn’t the way we play. We knew going in (tonight) we had a chance to win,” Sturdevant said. “Responding after that first Palmer goal the way we did reinforced that in everyone’s mind.”

Harren was the first of a half-dozen Warriors to score. Tegan Harrington, Colton Fletcher, Brett Keene, Dylan McRee and Hanson also scored in the victory. Most of Wasilla’s goals came off solid play around the Palmer net.

Harrington, who stood strong to the right of the crease before sneaking a puck past Good, scored with eight minutes left in the first to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead.

Keene, between the right wing circle and the net, hammered home the rebound of an Andrew Cooley shot from the left point in the third.

“Anytime you’re playing against a team that’s got a good, strong goalie, you have to have presence in front of the net,” Sturdevant said. “In order to get a goal on a good goaltender, you have to have a lot of presence. That’s one of the things we’ve been working on a lot.”

Hanson said the Warriors wanted to skate into the game attacking.

“Ashton, it’s no secret he’s a strong goalie,” Hanson said. “The plan was to come out early and fire as many pucks as we could. We did that. I think it started paying off.”

Luke Wright added a third-period goal for the Moose. Palmer had four power-play chances in the third, including a key 1-minute and 35-second 5-on-3 chance early in the final period, but could only tally the Wright goal.

The Moose outshot Wasilla 30-28 in the contest. Freshman Lauren Massie made 28 saves for the Warriors. Good finished with 22 stops for Palmer.

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

Wasilla 6, Palmer 2

Friday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Palmer- Reeves (George, Harrison) 12:26; 2. Wasilla- Harren (unassisted) 11:43; 3. Wasilla- Harrington (Apangolook) 8:07.

Second period — 4. Wasilla- Fletcher (Carricaburu, Sturdevant) 9:02.

Third period — 5. Wasilla- Keene (Cooley, Carricaburu) 10:46; 6. Wasilla- McRee (Ch. Hanson) pp 10:22; 7. Palmer- Wright (I. Good) 8:21; 8. Wasilla- Ch. Hanson (McRee, Trush) 6:38.

Shots on goal: Wasilla 9-11-8—28, Palmer 11-7-12—30; Saves: Wasilla- Massie 10-7-11—28, Palmer- A. Good 7-10-5—22.

Moose 7, Patriots 1

PALMER — The Palmer Moose bounced back from the loss to Wasilla with a 7-1 nonconference win over North Pole on Saturday at the MTA Events Center in Palmer.

Dalton Buness notched the hat tricked and Ivan Good collected four assists to lead the Moose to the win. Miles George and Jacob Inukai each tallied a goal and two assists, while Trey Garrod chipped in a goal and an assist.

Thomas Morino and Payton Staskywicz also scored for the Moose.

Palmer 7, North Pole 1

Saturday, Palmer

First period — 1. Palmer- George (I. Good) 7:28; 2. Palmer- Morino (Garrod, George) 4:02; 3. Palmer- Buness (I. Good, Inukai) 2:46.

Second period — 4. Palmer- Buness (I. Good, Inukai) 2:19; 5. North Pole- Hancock (Carnley) 0:59.

Third period — 6. Palmer- Buness (I. Good) 13:30; 7. Palmer- Staskywicz (Harrison, George) 13:01; 8. Palmer- Garrod (Rissew, Harrison) 6:03.

Shots on goal: North Pole 6-5-6—17, Palmer 22-9-16—47; Saves: North Pole- Heineken 19-8-13—40, Palmer- A. Good 6-4-2—12, LaCheminant x-x-4—4.