Anchorage Daily News

Levi Johnston wasn't about to miss this, the final game for Wasilla High in the state hockey tournament at Menard Memorial Arena.

Not even a cracked tibia bone in his shin could keep him away.

Good thing for the Warriors. Johnston, a junior wing, scored both goals in a 2-0 win Saturday morning over Lathrop, giving Wasilla a fourth-place finish.

Goalie Jake Dargis made 22 saves for his second shutout this season, helping Wasilla wrap up its fifth-straight trip to state on high note.

Johnston missed Thursday's 4-2 opening-round loss to South -- a heartbreaker because Wasilla felt this was the year it could compete against Alaska's elite teams.

But a penalty shot awarded to South just 27 into the game stunned Wasilla, and it never recovered. Three-time defending state champion South advanced to its fourth title game on Saturday, downing Service 4-3 in double overtime.

Feeling his team needed him, Johnston came back to play in Friday's bruising 7-3 win over West Valley in consolation play.

"I'm not supposed to be playing for another month," he said of the injury that occurred late in the season against Colony. "But I had to play. It was the last game."

If the injury slowed Johnston on Saturday morning, it didn't show. Dane Wilson smacked two point-blank shots at Lathrop goalie Stephon Williams; the puck trickled over to Johnston, camped at the left post, and he batted it in with less than five minutes left in the second period.

Then, early in the third period, Johnston took Ryan Conroy's flip pass across the crease and roofed a backhander.

Dargis did the rest. Lathrop outshot Wasilla 15-7 in the third period, but Dargis dropped his pads to the ice to make repeated close-in saves.

Lathrop had a 5-on-3 power play for 59 seconds late in the third, and the Malemutes took a timeout to discus strategy. But twice Johnston stole the puck for short-handed chances. Lathrop goalie Williams poke-checked the puck away from Johnston on a breakaway, preventing his chance at a hat trick.

In the South game that soured Wasilla's postseason, a penalty shot was award when South forward Robb Haider was hooked as he streaked toward the net. He then beat Dargis with a high shot, setting an ominous tone for Wasilla.

The Warriors eventually fell behind 3-0, but scored twice in the third to make a game of it.

Penalty shots are rarely awarded, and the offense must be blatant -- like tackling someone from behind on a breakaway.

Haider was able to get a shot off, but refs ruled he was impeded enough to warrant the one-on-one showdown with the goalie.

"That penalty shot really got our morale down," Dargis said.

Johnston agreed.

"The younger kids got down, we started letting up. Everyone thought it was over, and we gave up," he said.

Despite that disappointing start, Wasilla (18-7) did match its best finish in school history. Last season, Wasilla fell to Kenai in the fourth-place game to end up sixth.

"We're happy with how we finished and how we played all year," said Wasilla coach Bill Sturdevant. "All the teams here at state are real close. You look at the scores in this tournament, and you realize how close they were. Anything can happen come tournament time."

Find Ron Wilmot online at adn.com/contact/rwilmot or call 352-6712.

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