Warriors, Stars skate to scoreless tie

WASILLA — Three periods and eight minutes of overtime weren’t enough to get a point on the board for either Soldotna or Wasilla high schools at the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex on Friday.

“I think we worked hard. I think we started out a little slow, but as the game progressed we got better,” Wasilla Head Coach Bill Sturdevant said of the 0-0 tie.

He said a tie game doesn’t get the team anything, but “at least we’re comfortable knowing that we played hard.”

While the game ended scoreless, that doesn’t mean there weren’t a handful of close calls.

The first dramatic save came with 5:28 left to go in the first period when Wasilla sophomore goalie Chris Yaskus ended up on his belly, diving on a SoHi shot.

Both teams started the second period skating hard and just over two minutes into the second period Wasilla sophomore forward Trent Wohlers went to the penalty box for two minutes.

During the SoHi power play, Wasilla fought to keep the puck out of their goal with the Stars spending all but five seconds of Wohlers’ penalty in Warrior territory.

But Wasilla battled back, spending the last minute of the period skating almost exclusively on SoHi ice.

Both teams spent the first five minutes of the third period skating hard and looking for an opening, but taking most of their shots from far out.

Another penalty for Wohlers left the Warriors a man down with 6:10 left in regulation time, giving the visitors a late chance to notch a goal. This time, Wasilla’s penalty killing was sharper, kicking the puck out into SoHi territory a handful of times.

Wasilla dodged another bullet with less than four minutes to go in the game. A scrum of battling players surrounded the Wasilla crease, but Soldotna couldn’t find an opening.

With neither team managing to net a shot, the game went into an eight-minute overtime period. Thirty seconds in the Stars won a face-off in their own territory and pulled the goalie on a drive into Warriors ice.

Then at 3:51, SoHi goaltender Dawson Pearson, now back in, snatched a shot out of the air. Another handful of shots from both teams and the game was called a tie.

Asked afterwards if the number of penalties in the game was unusual, Sturdevant said that the final tally of six for Wasilla and five for Soldotna may have seemed l more than usual since the final period saw quite a few.

“Anytime the team is skating hard those things are going to happen,” he said. He also said he was proud of how his players managed to hold the Stars back killing those penalties.

“Anytime you have 100 percent penalty kills you can be proud,” he said.