Anchorage Daily News

WASILLA -- Dillon Sondergaard got the credit, but Josh Sutherland and Sondergaard both deserve the glory.

The game-tying goal Sutherland scored for Glennallen with 0.9 seconds left in regulation to force overtime was credited to Sondergaard in Saturday night's Greatland state hockey tournament championship game.

But Sondergaard earned his legitimate spot in history by notching the game winner 2:28 into overtime to give the Panthers a thrilling 4-3 victory over the Hutchison Hawks at Menard Memorial Arena.

"I'm just glad we won," Sutherland said. "I'll get the credit someday."

The sophomore center will go down in Glennallen lore as the player who scored the game-tying goal that forced the first overtime in the 10-year history of the Greatland tournament and helped give the Panthers their first state title.

The play started with five seconds left in the game. Sondergaard took the faceoff and slapped it to Sutherland. He stretched the net from the upper left circle to tie the score and keep the Panthers (19-3-0) from losing their third straight title game.

"I've always been told you can score with five seconds on the faceoff," Sutherland said. "Maybe quicker in the NHL."

Hutchison (16-4-0) thought the game was over when it took a 3-2 lead on Wyatt Stutzke's goal with 27 seconds left in regulation.

"I thought it was going to be three in a row," Sondergaard said.

That's until he erased two seasons of hockey heartache in overtime, sending a game winner past Hutchison's Hayden Nilson from the upper right circle.

At that point, Glennallen goalie Gereald Mills (48 saves) skated to the Panthers' dog pile with tears rolling down his cheeks.

"This is unreal," Mills said. "It's like a dream."

The 6-foot, 180-pound senior was wide awake in the third period -- Hutchison blasted him with 25 shots on goal. Mills saved all but one.

"It was horrible," he admitted. "I love getting shot on. That's my job. But it was endless."

In the second period, Glennallen took a 2-0 lead at 2:21 on Michael Auble's unassisted goal. But the Panthers' offense took a cat nap for the next 12:39 -- Auble's strike was their only shot on goal that period - and they paid for the two penalties they committed.

Hutchison took advantage of the short-handed Panthers, manufacturing back-to-back goals on the power play.

Drew Baggen struck first, scoring on the power-play at 10:43. Then Dorran Masters notched the Hawks' second straight power-play goal to tie the score 2-2 with 1:10 left in the period and carried momentum into the intermission.

When Stutzke bagged the go-ahead goal with 27 seconds to go, Mills couldn't help but think the game was finished. Mills, who had let in his first of 24 shots that period, let his guard down and skated over to his team's bench.

But that's when the party got started: Sutherland's goal with 0.9 seconds left tied the score and Sondergaard's overtime goal put the Panthers in hockey heaven.

"This was a good way to remember a game," said Mills, one of seven seniors. "It's like a miracle."

Tri Valley 5, Tok 3

Tri Valley snipers Evan Venechuk and Paulee Newton each scored unanswered goals in the third period to help the Viking Warriors pull away for a victory in the third-place game.

Tok's Jesse Coulman tied the game 3-3 with 7:35 to go, but Venechuk and Newton sealed Tri Valley's third-place finish at state for the second straight season.

Find Daily News sports reporter Kevin Klott at adn.com/sports/kklott or 257-4335.

ASAA/First National Bank of Alaska

Greatland State Hockey Tournament

Saturday at Menard Memorial Arena, Wasilla

All-Tournament Team

Goaltender -- Gereald Mills, Glennallen. Defensemen -- Ryan Crow, Glennallen; John Teets, Hutchison; Kazimir Cizmowski, Tri Valley. Forwards -- Josh Sutherland, Glennallen; Drew Baggen, Hutchison; Dorran Masters, Hutchison; Jesse Coulman, Tok.

Championship Game

Hutchison 0 2 1 0 -- 3

Glennallen 1 1 1 1 -- 4

First Period -- 1, Glennallen, Wendt (Sutherland), 10:06 (pp). Penalties -- Hutchison 2 penalties for 4 minutes; Glennallen 1 for 2.

Second Period -- 2, Glennallen, Auble, 2:21; 3, Hutchison, Baggen (Teets), 3:17 (pp); 4, Hutchison, Masters (Teets), 13:50 (pp). Penalties -- Hutchison 1 for 2; Glennallen 2 for 4.

Third Period -- 5, Hutchison, Statzeke, (Teets, Baggen), 14:33; 6, Glennallen, Sutherland (Sondergaard), 14:59. Penalties -- Hutchison 1 for 2; Glennallen 2 for 4.

Overtime -- 7, Glennallen, Sondergaard (Crow), 2:58. Penalties -- Hutchison 0 for 0; Glennallen 0 for 0.

Goalies -- Hutchison, Nilson 4-0-3-0--7; Glennallen, Mills 9-12-24-3--48.

Third-Place Game

Tok 1 1 1 -- 3

Tri Valley 1 2 2 -- 5

First Period -- 1, Tok, Brinkman (Coulman), 11:32; 2, Tri Valley, Venechuk, 13:47. Penalties -- Tok 0 penalties for 0 minutes; Tri Valley 0 for 0.

Second Period -- 3, Tok, Brinkman, 0:46; 4, Tri Valley, Venechuk (Newton, Cizmowski), 2:46; 5, Tri Valley, Newton (Townsend, Cizmowski), 14:26. Penalties -- Tok 1 for 2; Tri Valley 0 for 0.

Third Period -- 6, Tok, Coulman (Brinkman, York), 7:25; 7, Tri Valley, Cizmowski, 9:38; 8, Tri Valley, Mattielli (Arbuckle), 13:41. Penalties -- Tok 0 for 0; Tri Valley 0 for 0.

Goalies -- Tok, Johnson 13-13-7--33; Tri Valley, Maciver 2-6-10--18.

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