Winterhawk Bantam C team wins Anchorage tournament

The Big Lake Winterhawks hockey team claimed the championship at the sixth-annual Boys & Girls Club's Presidents Day Invitational Tournament recently. The Bantam "C" hockey team defeated the Boys & Girls Club Seawolves, 3-2, in the championship game at Dempsey Anderson Ice Arena in Anchorage on Feb. 20.

The Big Lake Amateur Hockey Association squad, which lost its first seven games of the season, has dropped only one conference game since early January.

Head coach Jess Seward said the team's improvement is the result of hard work, learning a system and the kids believing in themselves.

Rick Oldson lit the lamp twice in the first period, off a pass from Jordan Cole and Kyle Miller, to record the game's first two tallies. Blake Hornbeck scored the game winner to close out the first period.

Goalie Jonas Naegele snagged 24 saves in the championship game. The Winterhawks beat the Eagle River Glacier Bears, 2-0, in the tournament opener. Oldson and Lyle Rowe scored goals to help the Big lake team remain in the winner's bracket. C.J. Watson and Trevor Nickerson had assists in the game.

The Winterhawks advanced to the title game when Watson fed a slick pass to center Artem Obukhovski to help the boys from Big Lake nip the Mustang Lightning 1-0. Both early games were played on Saturday.

The low-scoring, scrappy Winterhawks are ahead to the state tournament March 18-20 in Eagle River.

"We're going to have to work really hard to get to the next level," Seward said.