West Eagles fly past the Moose

WASILLA -- For nearly two periods Tuesday, Palmer goaltender Kyle Gerti was like a wall.

Unfortunately for the Moose, West kept chipping away at Berti, scoring three goals in the third period en route to a 5-1 win over Palmer.

Despite allowing five goals, Berti turned in a stellar performance, stopping 35 shots. Berti shut out the Eagles in the first period turning away 10 West High shots. What made that number more significant is the fact that Berti registered seven of those 10 saves during special teams play. Berti stopped four shots on West High's two first period power plays and halted three Eagle shorthanded opportunities while Palmer was on the power play.

"His performance deffinately kept us in the game," Palmer head coach Brian Fish said of Berti. "But as the game wore on so did he. We allowed a lot of shots in the third period and you could tell that it weighed on him. He was doing everything he could out there."

Palmer allowed 30 shots in the final two periods. West was able to get consecutive shots on multiple occasions.

The Moose were awarded the man advantage just a minute into the first period when Trevor Bullock was whistled for high sticking. Unfortunately for Palmer, the Moose were not able to immediately click on the power play and went without a shot until the final seconds of 5-on-4 play. A 2-on-1 created by a West turnover in transition resulted in a hard shot by Jonah Stewart.

The Palmer power play was more like an equal opportunity power play as West had three solid chances on goal. Berti was able to make the save on each.

Palmer's Dan Borsetti took a pair of minors within a 2:10 span to keep Palmer shorthanded for about a four minute stretch late in the third. This is when Berti earned his keep.

The freshman netminder made several sprawling saves to keep the puck out of the Palmer net, and West off the scoreboard.

Just into the first West power play, Berti made a sweeping save on a Drew Bullock shot and then sent away a rebound attempt by Steven Gorski. Just seconds later, Berti stopped an attempt at a redirection and immediately made a chest save on yet another rebound attempt.

Palmer's best opportunity to score in the first came with just 2:24 remaining. The puck bounced off the boards and was sent down the ice towards the West net. Palmer's Sam Roy hustled down the ice and recovered the loose puck, creating a 1-on-1 opportunity with West goaltender Chris Wistoff.

The Eagle netminder sprawled out to make the save. Roy did get the rebound, but bounced the puck off the crossbar.

West was first able to get the puck past Berti just more than three minutes into the second period. Berti made a chest save on a shot by West's Saygen Boehmer, but the puck bounced back in front of the Palmer crease, and Todd Grahm was able to recover the loose rubber and score.

The Moose were able to quickly rebound, as Palmer senior Dylan MacKenzie made up for a missed opportunity.

Merely seconds after the West score, Palmer got a 2-on-1 opportunity as MacKenzie and Blaylock streaked down the ice against a lone West defenseman. The Eagle blueliner chose to skate towards Blaylock who immediately sent the puck over to MacKenzie.

Unfortunately for West, Wistoff also expected a Blaylock shot and was out of position after the pass. Fortunately for West, MacKenzie was not able to handle the pass, and missed the opportunity at the gapeing hole in the net.

And fortunately for Palmer and MacKenzie, it would not be the senior's final shot at tying the score. Less than a minute later, Eli Riggs drove the puck down the ice for Palmer and sent a shot on goal. MacKenzie grabbed the rebound and put it past Wistoff, tying the score at 1-1 and making the most of his second opportunity.