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Trevor Gutierrez's redemption keyed South's revenge as the Wolverines goalie stopped all 20 shots he faced Wednesday night to help the South boys hockey team to a crucial 4-0 Cook Inlet Conference win over Dimond at Ben Boeke Ice Arena.
"That was the best game of his career," South coach Mike Ashley said of his junior backstop. "He really stepped it up." The shutout was Gutierrez's first over Dimond as a varsity player and helped erase memories of his last start against the Lynx, a 3-0 loss in which he earned an early hook and the Lynx handed South its only loss of the season. "It feels good, and for it to be a shutout is even better," Gutierrez said. The win enabled South (7-1-1 CIC, 14-1-1 overall) to move into first place in the conference, while Dimond (5-3-1, 11-3-2) remains one of four teams with either four or five conference wins. "It was a tough loss for our program from a standings perspective," Dimond coach Dennis Sorenson said. In addition to giving South a leg up in the standings, the four-goal margin also gave the Wolverines the tiebreaker over the rival Lynx. "It's such an important win because you've got the three, four and five teams all so close together," Gutierrez said. As expected, Wednesday's clash between the two south-side powers was a slugfest, and Dimond got in plenty of shots. The Lynx put up 20 shots, but most were quality opportunities that tested Gutierrez. "This was not a four-goal game," Ashley said. South took advantage of sloppy passing on the blue line between Dimond defenders Casey Hill and Mason Anderson to set up its first goal, with Josh Small making the steal and whipping the puck to a streaking Lance Frazer to put South up 1-0 after one period. Dimond got good chances to tie things up in the second, but Gutierrez stood tall against point-blank efforts from Cobi Smith-Mass and Kyle Clapper in the early going. South took a 2-0 edge when senior forward Tayler Wells put in a rebound off a slap shot from Kyle Simmons at the point. Wells started the initial rush, and after getting stoned by Dimond goalie Marcus Holzschuh, found himself in the right place at the right time when Simmons' effort deflected off the Dimond goalie's pads. "Tonight was just our night," Ashley said. Gutierrez finished out the period by stopping a trio of dangerous Dimond attempts during a Lynx power play. South got some insurance early in the third period while on the power play when Jake Onstott rifled a left-handed slap shot from between the circles that found nothing but the back of the net. With South still pressing late -- Ashley said he was well aware of the goal-differential implications should a tiebreaker become necessary -- Frazer and Small teamed up once again, this time with Small on the finishing end of Frazer's perfect feed from the corner. With three weeks left in the regular season, Sorenson said his team still has time to recover in the standings. "In this league, anything can still happen," he said. As for South, the Wolverines find themselves sitting pretty after knocking off their biggest rival and recovering from their only stumble. "We knew we had to go out and play well," Gutierrez said. "And the boys stepped it up."