High School Sports

Tri-Valley, Hutchison skate to victories at state hockey tournament

Tri-Valley sailed past Delta 5-1 and Hutchison held off Glennallen-Kenny Lake 6-5 in first-round action of the Division II state hockey tournament Thursday at the Big Lake Rec Center.

The winners advance to semifinal games Friday against the tournament's top two seeds. Hutchison meets second-seeded Monroe at 5 p.m. and Tri-Valley faces top-seeded Houston at 7:30 p.m.

Tri-Valley and Delta combined for 95 shots in Thursday's first game. Caleb Graham made 44 saves for Tri-Valley and William Hasz had 45 for Delta.

Owen MacDonald and Gavin Mortenson notched two goals apiece for the Vikings, who scored four times in the third period to pull away from a 1-1 tie.

In the late game, Hutchison built a three-goal lead in the third period and survived a late charge by Glennallen-Kenny Lake. Siosiua Finau scored twice in the last two minutes to make things interesting, but the Panthers couldn't get the equalizer past Hutchison goaltender Drake Berrian.

Berrian finished with 52 saves and got offensive support from a wide selection of teammates, most notably Benjamin Skellie (1 goal, 2 assists) and Dominic Ermi (2 goals).

Finau finished with four goals for the Panthers, who also got three assists from Miguel Saavedra.

The tournament is for Alaska's small schools. Games can be viewed on Houston High School's YouTube live stream, which can be accessed at asaa.org.

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