Warriors, Hawks fall in first round of tourney

WASILLA — Lathrop scored three first-period goals en route to a 4-3 win over the Wasilla Warriors during the opening contest of the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Tournament at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.

Forward Dawson Hebard scored a pair of unassisted goals in the first to lead the Malemutes into the semifinal round.

With the Hebard goals and a Jacob Wolter score, Lathrop took a 3-0 lead in the first. Wasilla senior Wendall Harren cut into Lathrop’s advantage with a goal at the 2:19 mark of the first period. Junior Dylan McRee scored unassisted early in the third. Defenseman Michael Johnston, who helped set up the Harren score, sent a wrist shot from the left circle into the back of the net late in the game to round out the Warrior scoring.

Lathrop, which won a state title in 2009, outshot the defending North Star Conference champions 33-21 in the contest. Sophomore Zach Eastham made 29 saves for the Warriors.

With the loss, Wasilla is kicked back into the consolation side of the bracket and will face East Anchorage today at 12:30 p.m. East suffered a 1-0 loss to Palmer Thursday.

Lathrop 4, Wasilla 2

Menard Memorial Tournament

Thursday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Lathrop- Hebard (unassisted) 8:58; 2. Lathrop- J. Wolter (Co. King, Brown) 3:16; 3. Lathrop- Hebard (unassisted) 2:32; 4. Wasilla- Harren (Johnston) 2:19.

Second period — no scoring.

Third period — 5. Wasilla- McRee (unassisted) 13:53; 6. Lathrop — Soderlund (Parsley) 8:06; 7. Wasilla- Johnston (McRee) 0:09.

Shots on goal: Lathrop 14-6-13—33, Wasilla 6-7-8-21; Saves: Lathrop-

Brown 6-7-6—19, Wasilla- Eastham- 11-6-12-29.

Eagle River 12, Houston 0

WASILLA — Three Eagle River players notched a hat trick to lead the Wolves to a 12-0 win over the Houston Hawks during the first-round of the Menard tournament on Thursday.

Ben Russell, Dom Thompson and Dacota Wood each scored three times to push the Wolves forward in the bracket. Eagle River will face Kenai Central tonight in the semifinals.

Carter Jesiel, James Cross and Joel Cage also scored for Eagle River.

The Wolves led 3-0 heading into the first break, but added five goals in the second and four more in the third.

Houston faces Colony in the consolation semifinals today at 2:45 p.m. at the Menard.

The two teams faced earlier in the season, with Colony skating away with a 4-2 win.

—Jeremiah Bartz