Winning end

WASILLA — Two days after suffering their biggest setback of the season, the Wasilla hockey team earned its biggest win in a decade Saturday morning.

Junior forward Levi Johnston had two goals, and junior goalie Jake Dargis stopped all 22 shots he faced as the Warriors skated off with a 2-0 win over Lathrop to claim fourth place in the ASAA First National Cup Alaska class 4A state hockey tournament at the Menard Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

Dargis said the victory helped chase away some of the bad memories from Thursday’s 4-2 loss in the opening round to South Anchorage.

“We wanted to get to the championship, but it didn’t work out that way so we made the best of what we had,” Dargis said.

The win gave Wasilla its best state tournament finish since 1997, when they also placed fourth. Wasilla’s best-ever state tournament finish came in 1989, when the Warriors lost 4-3 to Palmer in the state championship game.

Wasilla, which won both the Northern Lights Conference regular season and tournament titles this season, was making its fifth consecutive state tournament appearance this season. But the Warriors had failed to win more than one game in the tournament in any of those years, including a tough loss to Kenai Central in the fourth-place game last season.

Wasilla head coach Bill Sturdevant said last year’s loss at the hands of the Kardinals was a motivating factor for his team this year.

“Last year we played in the same game against Kenai and came up short, so we definitely wanted to redeem ourselves,” Sturdevant said.

Both teams looked a bit groggy in the early going Saturday, as neither team could find the net during a scoreless opening period of the 9 a.m. game.

Dargis said having to play so early definitely played a role in the sluggish start to the contest.

“It’s not easy,” he said. “I had to get up earlier than I get up to go to school.”

The Warriors finally woke up in the second, out-shooting the Malemutes by an 11-2 margin and breaking through for a 1-0 lead when Johnston cleaned up a Dane Wilson rebound with 4:30 left in the period.

Johnston gave the Warriors some breathing room in the third period, taking a nice feed from Ryder Conroy and whipping the puck past Lathrop goalie Stephon Williams from point-blank range.

Sturdevant said he wasn’t surprised by Johnston’s production. Though the junior doesn’t skate on Wasilla’s top offensive line, the Warriors’ coach said Johnston is one of the team’s most dangerous weapons.

“He’s one of those players who, when he’s on the ice, you notice him,” Sturdevant said. “He’s a game-changer.”

With a 2-0 lead, Dargis then was called upon to ice the game in net, making 15 saves in the final period to preserve the shutout. He made several clutch stops late, including a stellar point-blank pad stop on Lathrop forward Brooks Poe with five minutes left in the game.

Johnston said the Wasilla players knew the importance of winning Saturday’s season finale, both for what a victory would mean to the program and because of what it would mean for Wasilla’s large senior class.

“For all the seniors, it was the last game so we had to leave it all out there,” Johnston said.

Wasilla will graduate 10 seniors — Adam Friese, Ben Barber, Harvey Finch, Brian Turner, Dane Wilson, Joe Barkley, Jordan Elkins, Jesse Hugli, Derek Ostrom and Herbie Mansavage — from this year’s squad, a fact that wasn’t lost on the Warriors players once they reached the locker room following Saturday’s win.

“It’s pretty emotional,” Dargis said. “it’s a great way to end it but it’s really tough. More than half our team won’t be back.”

While Wasilla had high hopes entering this year’s tournament, Johnston said the Warriors — which skated toe-to-toe with some of Alaska’s top prep squads all year — weren’t about to hang their heads after finishing the school’s best season in a decade.

“I think we could have done better, but we’re definitely happy.”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com

WARRIORS 2, MALEMUTES 0

Wasilla 0 1 1 — 2

Lathrop 0 0 0 — 0

Second period — 1. Wasilla- Johnston (Wilson), 10:30

Third period — 2. Wasilla- Johnston (Conroy, Elkins), 3:26

Penalties: Wasilla 9 for 18:00, Lathrop 4 for 8:00. Shots: Wasilla 7-11-7 — 25, Lathrop 5-2-15 — 22. Saves: Wasilla- Dargis 5-2-15 — 22, Lathrop- Williams 7-10-6 — 23.