Warriors, Panthers skate to tie

WASILLA -- Some say a tie is like kissing your sister.

If that is the case, the Wasilla hockey team gave its "sister" the proverbial smooch as the Skyview Panthers scored a pair of power play goals in the final seven minutes of the third period to erase a 4-2 deficit and tie the Warriors.

"The kids played a great game, but we took stupid penalties," Wasilla head coach Eric Troisi said.

The Warriors and the Panthers went scoreless in an eight-minute overtime and skated to a 4-4 tie.

Skyview jumped to a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. Wasilla goaltender Nathan Banbury made a save on a shot by Skyview's Ginny Berg and Banbury tried to pass the puck back up the ice. The goaltender's pass was intercepted by Skyview forward Mitch Burdick who quickly shot the puck past the befuddled goaltender.

Later in the period, Skyview's Chris Bouwens took a roughing penalty at the 6:13 mark and the Panthers' Lukas Fellman was called for interference with 4:58 remaining in the first period to give the Warriors a 5-on-3 opportunity. Wasilla cashed in as Spencer Syverston scored on the power play to tie the score at 1-1.

Wasilla took a 2-1 lead just 63 seconds later as freshman Alex Gittlein passed the puck to James Carr who was skating up the right side of the ice. Carr cut inside, deked a defenseman and put the puck past Skyview netminder Kyle Kay.

The Panthers brought the score to a tie once again early in the second period on a goal by Nelson Kempf. Fellman won a face-off for Skyview and pushed the puck to Kempf who was standing in front of the Wasilla goal. Kempf put the puck in the upper shelf of the Warrior net to tie the score at 2-2.

Midway through the second period, Travis Mercier and Fellman were called for minor infractions 53 seconds apart to give the Warriors their second 5-on-3 opportunity.

And for the second time, Wasilla made the most of their opportunity.

Shane Colgrove cycled the puck to Syverston who quickly made a pass to Gittlien. The freshman blueliner put a wrist shot into the Skyview net to give the Warriors a 3-2 lead. Although it won't show up on the scoresheet, Chase Korsmo was the key to the play. Korsmo screened Kay, allowing the wristshot to be unseen by the Skyview netminder.

Korsmo struck again for the Warriors early in the third period. The Warrior junior chased the puck down the ice off the opening face- off and passed the puck to Gittlein, beating a Skyview defenseman in the process. Gittlein passed the puck to Carr, who then swung the puck back to Korsmo.

Korsmo took the puck and backhanded a shot over the right shoulder of Kay, sliding it just underneath the crossbar. The goal gave Wasilla a 4-2 lead.

With a two-goal advantage it began to look as if Wasilla was en route to its second straight victory, but the third period was not kind to Wasilla as the Warriors began to break down.

Robbie Jacobson, Justin Keel and Derek Banbury were called with a hooking, holding and slashing penalty respectively within a five minute span midway through the third period. The later two calls gave Skyview a 5-on-3 opportunity of its own. After the Banbury penalty, Wasilla faced playing 47 seconds with two players short, but the Panthers only needed eight of those seconds as Fellman scored on the upper shelf of the Wasilla net to cut the Warrior lead to 4-3.

Just 49 seconds later, Mercier redirected a Berg shot for Skyview to tie the game at 4-4. Berg fired a slapshot from the point that was blocked by a diving Gittlien. Mercier then bounced the puck past Banbury.

"The kids worked hard, they showed the effort," Troisi said. "We can't be facing the 5-on-3s and the 5-on-4s like we did. If they are going to take those stupid penalties, they won't be playing."

Jacobson took his second penalty of the period as he was called for a slash with just less than five minutes left in regulation.

The Warriors were able to kill off the penalty to send the contest into overtime.

Skyview did have a trio of opportunities in the final two minutes of the game to win the contest. Paddy Iverson peppered Banbury with a pair of shots with just more than a minute left.

With 25 seconds to go, Wasilla averted potential disaster as Syverston stopped a potential breakaway by Iverson.

In the overtime, Wasilla was able to keep consistent pressure in the Skyview zone. The Warriors did not allow the puck past their own blueline for the first 2:30 of the overtime. Wasilla's best opportunity to score came on a odd-man rush created by a Skyview turnover in transition. Kay stoned the Warrior effort to help save the tie.

Midway through the overtime, Syverston fired a shot from the blueline. Following the Skyview save, the Panthers drove the puck to the other end were Iverson again fired consecutive shots on goal. Banbury made a pair of chest saves for

Wasilla.

The teams combined for three 5-on-3 goals in the contest, clearly the difference in the game.