Sports

Wild opening day sees unfamilar teams advance at state hockey

A wide-open Class 4A state hockey tournament was blown completely apart Thursday when three of four Anchorage teams lost in the first round for the first time since 1989.

West Valley, Wasilla and Colony all downed Cook Inlet Conference squads at the Menard Center in Wasilla while CIC champion West was the only Anchorage team to advance into Friday's semifinals.

The final three games of the day were all one-goal thrillers, with West defeating North Pole 2-1, Wasilla getting past South 4-3 in double overtime and Colony holding on for a 1-0 win over Dimond. North Pole defeated Service 4-0 in the day's opening game.

Play continues Friday with West facing Colony in one semifinal and West Valley and Wasilla facing off in the other.

Here's how Thursday's wild series of events played out:

Kiana Verplancke and Luke Schruf were just enough -- the Wasilla stars lifted their team to a dramatic win over defending state champion South.

Schruf, a senior forward, had a hat trick and scored the game-winning goal with 1:13 left in the second overtime. Verplancke, a senior goalie, stopped 43 shots and snuffed countless South breakaways and point-blank rockets.

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"I'm so hyped," said Verplancke, who was also in net last season when the Warriors knocked off Dimond in the opening round.

Schruf's game-winner came on Wasilla's seventh power play. He flipped a centering pass into traffic in front of South goalie Jeremy Swayman, and the puck deflected off a stick or skate – Schruf didn't know which – and between Swayman's skates.

"As soon as I saw it cross the line I was skating to center ice," Schruf said.

There, he joined his teammates in mobbing Verplancke.

The win foiled a standout performance from Swayman, who made 59 saves for the Wolverines, who were trying to reach their third straight state title game.

Instead, the Warriors will face West Valley at 7:30 p.m. Friday with a chance to reach the title game for second time. Wasilla's lone appearance in the title game was a 4-3 loss to Palmer in 1989 – the only year a Mat-Su team reached the final.

Verplancke said the ending of the marathon game was nerve-wracking, but the thrilling finish made the tension more than worthwhile.

"It makes it more fun to win when you do it like that," she said.

South scored three goals in the third period to storm back into the game. That rally included two goals in the final 2:08 of regulation. The Warriors were just seconds away from a second straight berth in the semifinals when South's Ben Trujillo silenced the partisan crowd with a slap shot from the top of the right circle that rifled past Verplancke with 13.6 seconds to go. South was in desperation mode at that point, with Swayman on the bench in favor of an extra attacker.

"We fought back hard," said South coach Steve Belde, whose team also lost in double overtime to West in the CIC championship game last week.

Trujillo's game-tying strike nearly spoiled a stellar game from Verplancke, who kept Wasilla in front with a bevy of catlike stops throughout.

"She's a stone wall back there," Schruf said. "She's the real MVP."

Wasilla, the No. 2 seed from the Northern Lights Conference, opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 7:54 mark of the first period thanks to Schruf's second effort. The senior was stymied by Swayman on his first attempt but managed to bat the puck past the South goalie on the rebound.

South's proclivity for penalties was a bugaboo all game. The Wolverines were down a man for much of the opening period, committing three early penalties that contributed to the Warriors' 12-8 advantage in shots on goal through the first 15 minutes.

Wasilla really put the defending champions behind the eight-ball 35 seconds into the second period, when sophomore Braden Brunnhoelzl pushed the lead to 2-0 by poking a rebound past Swayman, who loudly protested that he'd been interfered with.

Verplancke was unbeaten through the first two periods. She made several tough saves in the second, when she stoned Daniel Ramsey on a breakaway and delivered back-to-back rejections of Noah Ashley from point-blank range late in the period. Late in the period she again had Ramsey's number, thwarting the freshman's effort from the doorstep in the final minute.

The CIC's No. 2 seed finally broke through the Verplancke wall with 12 minutes left when Ramsey came streaking down on a break and fired a hard shot at the Wasilla senior, who made the initial save but couldn't corral the rebound, which fell to the stick of Ashley. Ashley calmly flicked a backhander into the open net to trim the Warriors' lead to 2-1.

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Second later, Verplancke came up big on Connor Orr, who came down unopposed but wasn't able to sneak the puck through Verplancke's defenses.

With some wind finally in its sails, South kept the pressure on throughout the third. The Wolverines had back-to-back chances midway through the period, but Bryson Schmitz's slap shot was turned back by the post while John Matson's shot on a clean break found nothing but glove.

Schruf appeared to give his team some breathing room when he made it 3-1 on a breakaway, skating in alone on Swayman and lifting the puck over Swayman's stick with 6:53 to go.

South's come-from-behind charge down the homestretch began when Ramsey finally got the better of Verplancke, lifting a backhander in with 2:08 left to again cut the Wasilla lead to one. Less than two minutes later, Trujillo sent the South bench into hysterics with his game-tying laser.

Schruf said the Warriors have unfinished business after coming within a game of the final last season.

"We know we can play with any of these teams," he said. "We just have to work harder than they do."

Knights hold off Lynx

Colony withstood a furious final minute to earn a 1-0 win in the final game of the night.

With Dimond goalie Chris Gardeline on the bench, the Lynx got off several shots in the final seconds, but Colony goalie Joey Diltz held on for the 15-save shutout.

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Colony dominated the run of play, outshooting last year's state runner-up 25-15.

After a scoreless first period, Colony freshman Jacob Hessinger broke the deadlock when his third-effort chip got past Gardeline with 11:21 left in the second.

Colony retained its 1-0 advantage heading into the third, although the Knights could have been up by even more. The top seed from the NLC outshot Dimond 23-8 through two periods, leaving the Lynx to rely more often than not on Gardeline to keep them in the game.

Diltz saved his best period for last, stopping seven Dimond shots in the final period. The win gives Colony a chance to reach the title game for the first time.

Eagles nip Patriots

West survived a battle in its opening-round win over North Pole, a 2-1 victory that was in doubt until the very end. Kevin Hodsdon put in a rebound with 3:10 left in the game for the game-winner, lifting last season's state runner-up into the semifinals for the third straight year.

"We know we've been here before, but we've got a lot more work to do," said Hodsdon.

West, which lost in last year's final to South, last won the tournament in 2010.

The Patriots took a short-lived lead late in the first period when Jason Donald beat West goalie Chris Alexakis. West wasted almost no time getting the equalizer, tying things up just nine seconds later on a strike by Roman Hamm.

That's how the game remained until Hodsdon's put-back from the right circle put the Eagles up for good.

Alexakis made 18 saves for West, which outshot the Patriots 34-19. North Pole's Jimmy Culley made 32 saves for the second-place team from the Mid Alaska Conference, which will now play at noon Friday in the consolation round.

Wolfpack too much for Cougars

Mid Alaska champion West Valley sprinted into the semifinals with a 4-0 thrashing of Service.

The Wolfpack scored three times in the first period, getting a pair of goals from Gabe Rankin and another from Stoshie Skorulski. Zack Savereide added the team's final goal, lifting the Wolfpack into a Friday night semifinal showdown against Wasilla.

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Keel Simon stopped 17 shots to earn the shutout for West Valley. Ronan Klancher made 34 saves for the Cougars, the No. 4 seed from the CIC.

If the Wolfpack advance, it'll be the first time they've reached the title game in 15 seasons. West Valley has been to the state championship game twice, finishing second in 1989 and 2000.

FIRST NATIONAL CUP

Menard Center, Wasilla

Thursday's scores:

West Valley 4, Service 0

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Wasilla 4, South 3 (2OT)

West 2, North Pole 1

Colony 1, Dimond 0

Friday's schedule:

Consolation round

Noon -- North Pole vs. Dimond

2:30 p.m. -- Service vs. South

Semifinals

5 p.m. -- West vs. Colony

7:30 p.m. -- Wasilla vs. West Valley

Matt Tunseth

Matt Tunseth is a former reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and former editor of the Alaska Star.

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