Warriors skate past Valley rival

WASILLA -- At some points Wednesday the Wasilla Warriors had more traffic in front of the Palmer net than the Valley has at rush hour on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

A flurry of shots from defenseman Derek Banbury at the point and heavy traffic in front of the Palmer net allowed the Warriors to get the puck past Moose goaltender Kyle Berti.

Wasilla scored five unanswered goals en route to a 7-3 win over Palmer at Brett Memorial Ice Arena.

The Moose led 3-2 early in the contest, but the Warriors opened the game up with four second period goals.

"We need to get guys in front of the net," Wasilla head coach Eric Troisi said. "That's what we preach to the kids, traffic in front of the net."

Berti held strong for the entire contest, stopping 40 of 47 shots, but it was screens and rebounds that buried Palmer.

"He's a good goalie and a lot of good goalies make the first save," Troisi said. "But it is the second and the third shots. We need to get people in front of the net and it is hard for him to see it."

Banbury netted a hat trick in the contest, with each of his goals coming off shots from the point.

"Most of my goals had screens," Banbury said. "When someone gets down in front of the net (the goalie) can't see the puck."

Three minutes into the second period Joel Kenworthy moved the puck over to Banbury at the point, who fired the puck past Berti on the power play to tie the score at 2-2.

Banbury struck again six minutes later, slipping the puck past Berti, who was screened by a wall of Warriors.

The junior defenseman notched his third goal late in the contest.

"He's got a cannon," Troisi said of Banbury. "I don't think people realize how hard of a shot he has. He's got the hardest shot on the team."

Palmer jumped to a 2-1 lead early in the contest, with goals from Sam Roy and Alex Senta.

Just less than four minutes into the game, Spencer Galvin intercepted a pass in transition creating an odd-man rush for the Moose. Galvin moved the puck to Roy, and the senior forward drove the puck down the ice and slipped a backhand past Warrior goaltender Ronnie Walker to give the Moose a 1-0 lead.

Midway through the first period Senta scored the first of his two goals, as he picked up a drop pass from Kent Blaylock, skated around the left side of the Warrior net and put the puck upper shelf.

Senta scored his second goal in the second period, allowing the Moose to retake the lead. Senta scored four seconds after Banbury's power-play tally.

The score would be the last time the Moose were able to light the lamp as Walker stood strong with 24 saves in the final two periods.

"He struggled a little, giving up his first two goals on the first two shots," Troisi said. "But he settled down and played well."

Wasilla tied the game at 3-3 at the 9:40 mark of the second period. Berti stopped a Banbury shot from the point and a Chase Korsmo shot at the doorstep, but allowed an Andrew Tumbleson shot to slip by from the left side of the net.

Tumbleson scored twice in the contest.

Korsmo and Arlin Welch also scored in the game. Korsmo redirected a rebound off a Welch shot in the second period and Welch took a pass from Track Palin and scored in the third period.

Despite the loss, Palmer head coach Brian Fish was pleased with the play off his goaltender and the effort of his team.

"Obviously the score indicates that they had the upper hand, but I can't say enough about the total team effort," Fish said.

Random shots … Wasilla was 1-4 on the power-play, while Palmer was 0-6 with the man advantage … Five different Warriors had multi-point games. Banbury had three goals, Tumbleson had two goals, Korsmo and Welch registered a goal and assist and Kenworthy and Jeremiah Dargis each dished out a pair of helpers … Senta (two goals) and Galvin (goal and assist) each had multi-point games for the Moose.