West valley spoils Houston’s quick start

FAIRBANKS —Despite last-minute travel changes and a late arrival to Fairbanks, it wasn’t the Houston Hawks who had the sluggish start on Friday. It was the host West Valley Wolfpack.

Houston built a 4-3 lead through the first two periods, but West Valley scored six unanswered goals to steal a 9-6 win over the Hawks.

Sophomore Micah Ranum led the Hawks with a pair of goals. Jordan Cole and Rye Humphries also reached the back of the Wolfpack net.

West Valley pumped 44 shots on the Houston goal en route to the win. Hawks netminder Ben Barenburg stopped 35 of those attempts.

Justin Woods led West Valley with the hat trick.

The persistent poor weather that led closure of Mat-Su Valley schools on Wednesday and Thursday also greatly altered Houston’s scheduled three-game road trip to the Interior.

Houston’s game at Lathrop, that was slated for Thursday, was postponed until Saturday. On Friday, the Houston High School administration canceled the team’s bus trip to Fairbanks, HHS activities director Norm Bouchard said, and instead found the team seats on a flight to Fairbanks.

The game was delayed about an hour, Bouchard said, to allow time for Houston’s late arrival to the Interior.

Also, thanks to the changes, Houston was forced to schedule two of its weekend games on Saturday.

The Hawks faced Lathrop — dropping a 13-0 loss to the Malemutes — in the morning and North Pole Saturday evening. Bouchard said the games could not be canceled because they are official Mid-Alaska Conference contests.

Complete results of Houston’s game against North Pole were not available.

Palmer captain

scores 4 in win

PALMER — Palmer captain Zach Richards scored four goals and led the Moose to a 13-1 North Star Conference win over the Colony Knights at the Palmer Ice Arena on Friday.

Senior Michael Hanson and sophomore Jared Hanson posted a hat trick each for PHS. Stephen Acher and Miles George also scored for the Moose.

Chris Sawyer notched Colony’s lone tally. Sawyer actually gave the Knights the early 1-0 lead, slipping a shot past Palmer goalie Will Rauchenstein just 1 minute and 10 seconds into the first period.

But the Moose answered.

Palmer scored six times in the first, 13 unanswered goals and outshot Colony 58-9.

Colony freshman Forrest Savel earned the start in net and stopped 16 shots in the first 15 minutes. Jason Murak recorded 29 saves during the final two periods.

Palmer has now outscored Colony 25-2 in two NSC games this season.

Palmer 13, Colony 1

Friday, Palmer Ice Arena

First period — 1. Colony- Sawyer (Boyer) 13:50, 2. Palmer- J. Hanson (M. Hanson) 12:41, 3. Acher (Richards) 10:12, 4. Palmer- J. Hanson (M. Hanson, Good) 7:47, 5. Palmer- Richards (unassisted) 7:28, 6. Palmer- Good (Acher) 5:49, 7. Palmer- Richards (M. Hanson, Good) 0:12.

Second period — 8. Palmer- J. Hanson (M. Hanson) 11:02, 9. Palmer- Richards (Morino, Isaacs) 10:51, 10. Palmer- M. Hanson (J. Hanson) 8:33, 11. Palmer- M. Hanson (unassisted) 7:55, 12. Palmer- Richards (Danielowski, Isaacs) pp 3:59.

Third period — 13. Palmer- M. Hanson (Richards, Good) 9:55, 14. Palmer- George (Buness) pp 6:28.

Shots on goal: Colony 5-1-3—9, Palmer 22-21-15—58, Saves: Colony- Savel 16-x-x—16, Murak x-16-13—29; Penalties: Colony 9-for-34, Palmer 2-for-4.