Love and hate went hand in hand Tuesday as the Chugiak Mustangs took a tense 2-1 win over Eagle River in front of a packed house at the McDonald Center in Eagle River.

While the Mustangs were busy celebrating their hard-fought victory over their biggest rival, Chugiak alum and current Wolves assistant coach Bryan Wild was busy turning the McDonald into an impromptu engagement party.

Wild used a postgame photo opportunity to coax his girlfriend of 11 months, Cortney Grant, onto the ice to take some photos of the Wild family. While Grant was busy lining up the Wilds in her viewfinder, four Eagle River players -- Cole Younger, Connor Sperry, Ryan Ghan and Ben Russell -- slipped onto the ice carrying four signs spelling out, "Will you marry me?"

Wild dropped to one knee, stunning Grant with an engagement ring.

She said yes.

"I didn't believe it at first," said Grant, surrounded by family and friends who were tipped off by Bryan before the game.

Wild's father, Rodney, is the Chugiak head coach. He said when his oldest son told him of the proposal, he told Bryan he thought it was a great idea.

"I said, 'What's the worst that can happen? She says no in front of all your family and friends and coach Mac looking down,' " he said, laughing.

Bryan Wild said he had butterflies throughout the entire game.

"I was a little nervous," he admitted.

His dad had a different story.

"The poor kid was nervous as hell," Rodney said.

Bryan said he grew up around hockey, and said he wanted to share his love of the sport with Courtney.

"She was never around hockey before she met me," he explained. "I figured I'd give her a good memory of the rink."

Grant said the plan worked to perfection.

"It's not something I'll ever forget," she said. "I'm thrilled."

Before the dramatic proposal the Mustangs got goals from Sean Casey and Josh Smith to earn what turned out to be a hard-fought victory. Mustangs goalie Joe Lindquist made 16 saves to earn the win, while Eagle River's Kyle Haken stopped 30 shots in the losing effort.

The McDonald center was rocking and rolling from the beginning, as fans and students from the two area schools traded chants all evening in what has quickly become one of Alaska's most spirited hockey rivalries.

"It's kind of nice to see that kind of thing evolve out here," Rodney Wild said.

Haken had the biggest plays of the scoreless opening period, twice stopping Chugiak's Sam Linder, once with the Mustangs on the power play and later with Linder on a short-handed breakaway.

Things heated up in the second, as the Mustangs picked up a pair of tallies in the period, which also featured several penalties as the teams traded words and shoves on several occasions.

Smith, a freshman, gave the Mustangs a 1-0 lead when he deflected Linder's shot from the point midway through the period.

The Mustangs then pushed their lead to 2-0 with a short-handed goal thanks to Casey, who broke in alone on Haken and fired a wrist shot off the pads of the Wolves goalie. Casey stuck with the play, and when Haken was unable to corral the rebound, the junior forward was there to stuff the putback into the net.

Eagle River made things interesting at the end, getting a goal from Dacota Wood with 33 seconds left off a feed from Russell. But that was as close as the Wolves would get to taking out their crosstown rival as the final seconds turned into a pushing and shouting match that resulted in five Eagle River penalties.

While the loss to his alma mater stung a bit, Bryan Wild said Tuesday's game ended exactly how he had hoped.

"It's a very good night," he said, moments before taking his new fiancee in his arms for a lengthy smooch. "Besides, we still get to play them again."

Find Matt Tunseth online at adn.com/contact/mtunseth or call 257-4335.

Chugiak 2, Eagle River 1

Chugiak 0 2 0 -- 2

Eagle River 0 0 1 -- 1

First Period -- No scoring. Penalties -- Chugiak 2 for 4. Eagle River 1 for 2.

Second Period -- 1, Chugiak, Smith (Linder, Topf) 7:06; 2, Chugiak, Casey 3:24 SH. Penalties -- Chugiak 3 for 6. Eagle River 4 for 8.

Third Period -- 3, Eagle River, Wood (Russell) 0:33. Penalties -- Chugiak 1 for 2. Eagle River 7 for 14.

Goalies -- Chugiak, Lindquist (6-3-7--16). Eagle River, Haken (9-7-14--30).

West 2, East 1

Logan Miller scored a power-play goal with 5:24 left in the third period to give West a 2-1 victory over East.

The game was scoreless through the first two periods of play before East took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Tyler Ferrari at 10:49 of the third period.

West's Dylan Wisthoff poked in the tying goal on a power play with 7:07 left in the game and Miller's power-play tally less than two minutes later gave the Eagles the win.

West 2, East 1

West 0 0 2 -- 2

East 0 0 1 -- 1

First Period -- No scoring.

Second Period -- No scoring.

Third Period -- 1, East, Ferrari (Luiten) 10:49; 2, West, Wisthoff (Miller, Wichorek) 7:07 (pp); 3. West, Miller (Petrino, Butcher) 5:24 (pp).

Goalies -- West, Mendenhall (7-5-10--22); East, Luiten (12-11-7--30).

Service 8, Palmer 0

Eight players scored goals as Service traveled to Palmer and came away with a dominating victory.

The Cougars outshot the Moose 49-12 and improved to 5-1-1 on the season.

Jack Cronin, Bering Halloran, Devon Lamothe, Garrett Brown, Aaron McInnis, Kevin Klump, Cody Hansen and Chase Crabb each scored for Service.

Cody Gongora and Pat Walgren split time in net for the Cougars, each picking up six saves.

Service 8, Palmer 0

Service 3 1 4 -- 8

Palmer 0 0 0 -- 0

First Period -- 1, Service, Cronin (Lamothe) 14:21; 2, Service, Lamothe (Hansen) 11:09; 3, Service, Brown (Sture) 10:48. Penalties -- Service 1 for 2. Palmer 1 for 2.

Second Period -- 4, Service, Hansen (Cronin, Triplett) 10:10. Penalties -- Service 1 for 2. Palmer 1 for 2.

Third Period -- 5, Service, Crabb (Presegard, Smith) 9:57; 6, Service, McInnis 9:40; 7, Service, Klump (Lamothe, Brown) 7:52; 8, Service, Halloran (Sture) 0:31.

Goalies -- Service, Gongora (0-2-x--2), Walgren (x-0-4--4).