Warriors skate past Moose, earn No. 1 seed in North Star tourney

WASILLA – As the Wasilla Warriors entered the final 10 days of the regular season, Wasilla stood in third place in the North Star Conference behind Palmer and Colony.

But with late-season wins over each of their Valley rivals, the Warriors are on top. Wasilla clinched the No. 1 seed in the upcoming North Star Conference Championships with a 5-3 win over Palmer Saturday night at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

“When we beat Colony, we kind of figured out that, hey, we’ve actually got a shot at this, let’s keep this up,” Wasilla senior captain Luke Schruf said after the win over the Moose.

Schruf was one of five Warriors who scored Saturday to help Wasilla improve to 7-2-1 in North Star play. Wasilla goaltender Kiana Verplancke made 39 saves in the win to help the Warriors overcome three Palmer power play goals, including two in the third period.

“Penalties kind of killed us. I’m very proud of the team, the way we stuck together,” Schruf said.

Larsen Tubbs scored a key goal for the Warriors at the 5:01 mark of the third. Tyler Lutz added a shorthanded empty net tally with 10 seconds left in the third.

Olivia Matson gave Wasilla the early lead, knocking in a loose rebound about 90 seconds into regulation.

“It was huge,” Schruf said of the early goal. “We let teams get up on us and we get down on ourselves. That’s been our problem all year.”

Cody Butcher gave Wasilla the 2-0 lead with 6:34 left in the second. Garrett Conroy set up the play with a 2-on-1 rush, and fed the puck to Butcher on the score. Schruf struck with his goal with 10 seconds left in the second.

Palmer did all of its damage on the power play. Exactly a minute after Butcher gave Wasilla the 2-0 lead, Noah Richards cut Wasilla’s lead in half. With the Moose skating on the power play, Valery Dietz snapped a shot in from the top of the left wing circle, and Richards tipped in the deflection to make it a 2-1 game.

Clements struck twice for the Moose on the power play during the third period. Early in the third, Clements settled in at the top of the left wing circle, and put a wrist shot high into the Warrior net to cut Wasilla’s lead to 3-2. Clement scored again on the power play at the 2:20 mark, wrapping around the back of the net to tuck the puck just inside the post.

Wasilla head coach Trent Schachle said he was proud of the way his team overcame Palmer’s work on the power play to earn the victory.

“They came out and didn’t take no for an answer,” Schachle said. “They kept on working no matter what happened on the ice.”

The win ensures that Wasilla will be on one side of the conference championships bracket, and Palmer and Colony will be on the other. Both Wasilla and Palmer earn first-round byes with the top 2 seeds.

The tournament opens with a pair of games Thursday at the Menard Arena in Wasilla. Third-seeded Colony meets sixth-seeded Kenai at 5 p.m. Fourth-seeded Soldotna plays fifth-seeded Homer Thursday at 7:15 p.m.

Second-seeded Palmer meets the Colony-Kenai winner Friday at 5 p.m. in the semifinals. Top-seeded Wasilla hosts either Homer or Soldotna Friday at 7:15 p.m. in the semifinals. The championship game is set for Saturday at 4 p.m. The top two teams in the tournament advance to the 4A state tournament, scheduled for Feb. 12-14 at the Menard.

Wasilla 5, Palmer 3

Saturday, Brett Arena

First period – 1. Wasilla- O. Matson (Tubbs, Harren) 13:28.

Second period – 2. Wasilla- Butcher (Conroy) 6:34; 3. Palmer- Richards (Deitz, Bembenek) pp 5:34; 4. Wasilla- Schruf (C. Matson, Marks) 0:10.

Third period – 5. Palmer- Clements (Richards) pp 11:33; 6. Wasilla- Tubbs (Schruf) 5:01; 7. Palmer- Clements (Fish) 2:20; 8. Wasilla- Lutz (unassisted) sh en 0:10.

Shots on goal: Palmer 7-17-18—42, Wasilla 11-9-10—30; Saves: Palmer- Grogan 10-7-8—25, Wasilla- Verplancke 7-16-16—39.