The Rewind: Chugiak hockey heads to regions undefeated, Dimond hands West Valley basketball first loss

Welcome to The Rewind, a weekly digest that puts a spotlight on the biggest stories and best performances from Alaska’s world of sports.

On the high school sports scene, the Dimond boys basketball team stayed hot by cooling off West Valley and spoiling any hopes the Wolfpack may have had of an undefeated season while the Chugiak boys hockey team finished the regular season unbeaten. On the college scene, the University of Alaska Anchorage men’s hockey team got swept by rival University of Alaska Fairbanks for the third time this season.

Headlines and highlights

The annual West Valley Wolfpack Ice Jam basketball tournament was held over the weekend in Fairbanks and the most exciting game came in the second round when the host was upset on its home court by Dimond. Thanks to a clutch 3-pointer by sophomore shooting guard Marek Hajdukovich, the Lynx were able to emerge victorious over the Wolfpack 57-54 in overtime on Friday night.

Dimond would go on to win the tournament with a 74-48 win over Palmer on Saturday and the Lynx are now back in the top spot in the Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches’ 4A boys power rankings.

The Ice Jam wasn’t the only basketball tournament to take place over the past week. Both the boys and girls squads from Anchorage Christian School competed in the 2023 Revolution Sport & Spine Therapy Al Howard Shootout and they each recorded wins over Kenai Central, Juneau-Douglas and host Soldotna.

On the high school hockey scene, Chugiak completed an undefeated regular season by blowing out three opponents by a combined 24-2 score. The Mustangs closed it out with a pair of back-to-back shutouts that included an 11-0 trouncing of Eagle River on Saturday. The Mustangs finished with an 18-0-1 overall record and are heading into this week’s Cook Inlet Conference regional tournament riding a 17-game winning streak.

Scholastic bowling saw another strong week by the Eagle River boys as they not only remain the lone undefeated team in either division through the first 11 matches of the 2022-2023 season but they also had the top two placers in the Anchorage Scholastic Bowling League Varsity Shootout Tournament last Tuesday. Teammates Connor Lanehart (690) and Kendric Siders (682) came in first and second in the boys division while Dimond’s Maia Struble blew out the rest of the competition in the girls division and recorded the highest score of any bowler in the tournament with a score of 707.

In prep nordic skiing action, the skiathlon classic/freestyle race took place Saturday at Kincaid Park and host West edged reigning state champion Service (1:51:18.8-1:53:09.5) to win the boys division thanks to having half of the top 10 finishers. The West girls also came in first. Blake Hanley (27:31.8) and Samantha Legate (33:41.6) led the respective Eagles squads to victory with first-place finishes as individuals.

On the college hoops scene, the UAA women’s team split the two games they played this past week. First the Seawolves won an overtime thriller over Simon Fraser on Thursday thanks to a clutch game-winner by Chugiak’s Nicole Pinckney. While they dropped their next game on Saturday against Western Washington by 10 points, it was by a much smaller margin than their previous matchup this season in which they lost by 53 points. The men’s team lost its only game of the week when it traveled up to Fairbanks to face rival UAF and fell by 10 points.

[Chugiak’s Nicole Pinckney helps UAA complete rally with game-winning shot against Simon Fraser]

The UAA men’s hockey team was back in action for the first time in 20 days this past weekend for the final leg of the Governor’s Cup. The Seawolves fell 4-3 in overtime in both of their games against rival UAF as the Nanooks swept them for the third time this season. UAF won the series 6-0 in the UAA program’s first year of full reinstatement.

[UAA hockey falls to UAF in overtime after surrendering late lead]

The Anchorage Wolverines and Fairbanks Ice Dogs also faced off for a two-game series over the weekend and the homestanding Wolverines were able to split with their rival by bouncing back from a 5-2 defeat on Friday with a 6-3 triumph on Saturday.

[Division-leading Fairbanks tops Anchorage Wolverines 5-2]

UAA’s Cole Nash ran a school-record time of 8:03.41 to finish seventh in the 3K at the UW Invitational on Saturday.

Nash’s time was nearly four seconds faster than the previous record of 8:07.23 by Dominik Notz in 2017.

Last week’s results

Prep Basketball

Girls

Monday

Bartlett 58, Service 12

Dimond 54, South 23

Tuesday

Dimond 58, Eagle River 10

Wasilla 70, Palmer 21

West 66, Service 7

South 41, Bartlett 23

Wednesday

ACS 74, Soldotna 21

Thursday

West Valley 46, Palmer 35

Colony 72, Kodiak 28

ACS 66, Kenai Central 23

Friday

Dimond 51, Chugiak 32

Bartlett 48, Bettye Davis East 28

Service 41, Eagle River 38

Colony 65, Kodiak 25

ACS 76, Juneau Douglass 29

West 65, South 38

Boys

Monday

Dimond 54, South 40

Service 70, Bartlett 59

Klawock 34, Hydaburg 33

Skagway 69, Angoon 34

Tuesday

Colony 69, ACS 66

Wasilla 92, Palmer 57

Dimond 83, Eagle River 45

Bartlett 44, South 41

Service 70, West 62

Mt. Edgecumbe 56, Sitka 43

Wednesday

Sitka 54, Homer 31

ACS 60, Soldotna 52

Thursday

West Valley 80, Palmer 34

Dimond 64, Valdez 38

ACS 56, Kenai 37

Juneau 57, Soldotna 40

Sitka 54, Homer 29

Kotzebue 49, Buckland 42

Scammon Bay 88, St Michael 65

Newhalen 65, Dillingham 49

Klawock 62, Gustavus 44

Nome 68, Redington 46

Kodiak 48, Eagle River 32

Friday

Dimond 57, West Valley 54

Nome 68, Buckland 31

ACS 70, Juneau-Douglass 65

Valdez 64, Palmer 53

West 65, South 54

East 64, Bartlett 19

Service 64, Eagle River 44

Seward 44, Nikiski 39

Grace Christian 68, Houston 47

Cordova 68, Unalaska 37

Delta 70, Hutchison 38

Petersburg 59, Craig 38

Edgecumbe 67, Homer 32

Colony 77, Kodiak 38

Glennallen 50, Unalakleet 44

Nenana 67, Tok 55

Klawock 73, Gustavus 51

Ninilchik 76, Su Valley 36

Kotzebue 62, Redington 36

Ketchikan 56, Thunder Mtn 54

Soldotna 49, Kenai 48

Saturday

Dimond 74, Palmer 48

West Valley 64, Valdez 26

Colony 52, Kodiak 29

Juneau 58, Kenai 47

Cook Inlet Academy 58, Holy Rosary 26

ACS 60, Soldotna 35

Klawock, 79 Hoonah 29

Thunder Mountain, 60 Ketchikan 58

Kokrine 66, Unalakleet 54

Mt. Edgecumbe, 73 Homer 44

Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches Power Rankings

4A Girls

1. Anchorage Christian
2. Wasilla
3. Colony
4. Dimond / Juneau
5. Ketchikan

4A Boys

1. Dimond
2. East
3. West Valley
4. Monroe Catholic
5. Service/ Colony

3A Girls

1. Grace Christian
2. Monroe Catholic
3. Kenai Central
4. Mt Edgecumbe
5. Valdez

3A Boys

1. Grace Christian
2. Nome Beltz
3. Mt Edgecumbe
4. Valdez
5. Houston/Kenai Central

2A Girls

1. Tikigaq
2. Glennallen
3. Craig
4. Haines
5. Susitna Valley

2A Boys

1. Ninilchik
2. Tikigaq
3. Petersburg
4. Cordova
5. Hooper Bay / Metlakatla

1A Girls

1. Lumen Christi
2. Cook Inlet Academy
3. Newhalen
4. Shaktoolik
5. Shishmaref

1A Boys

1. Scammon Bay
2. Cook Inlet
3. Toksook Bay
4. Klawock
5. Shishmaref

Bowling

Tuesday

Anchorage Scholastic Bowling League Varsity Shootout Tournament

Boys

1. Connor Lanehart, Eagle River, 690
2. Kendric Siders, Eagle River, 682
3. Jared Krison, Dimond, 664
4. Colton Penetac, Bettye Davis East, 642
5. Josh Saylor, Eagle River, 604

Girls

1. Maia Struble, Dimond, 707
2. Alyssa Porcelli , Service, 586
3. Chacity Kuamo’o, East, 535
4. Callie Justice, West, 451
5. Lindsey Vig, Chugiak, 444

Thursday

Boys

Dimond 31, East 4

West 35, Chugiak 0

South 29, Service 6

Eagle River 33, Bartlett 2

Girls

Dimond 31, East 4

Chugiak 22, West 13

Service 29, South 6

Eagle River 33, Bartlett 2

Hockey

Tuesday

Chugiak 5, South 2

Wednesday

Eagle River 4, Service 0

Chugiak 8, Bartlett 0

West 3, Dimond 0

Friday

South 2, Diamond 1

Saturday

South 11, Bartlett 0

West 3, Service 1

Chugiak 11, Eagle River 0

College

Women’s Basketball

Thursday

UAA 73, Simon Fraser 71

Saturday

Western Washington 62, UAA 52

Men’s Basketball

Saturday

UAF 89, UAA 79

Hockey

Friday

UAF 4, UAA 3 (OT)

Saturday

UAF 4, UAA 3 (OT)

Gymnastics

Friday

Sacramento State 195.100, UAA 187.225

Sunday

UC Davis 196.175, Air Force 193.200, UAA 188.950

NAHL

Friday

Fairbanks Ice Dogs 5, Anchorage Wolverines 2

Saturday

Anchorage Wolverines 6, Fairbanks Ice Dogs 3

Fast Forward

Prep

Hockey

CIC Regional Tournament

The Cook Inlet Conference Regional tourney will be taking place throughout the week with the first game between Bartlett and Eagle River on Monday. No. 1 seed Chugiak will play either Dimond or Service on Thursday, and the championship game is slated for Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Ben Boeke Ice Arena. Some of the games will take place at the Harry J. McDonald Memorial Center in Eagle River before the tournament wraps up in Anchorage.

Basketball

Girls

Wasilla @ ACS, Tuesday 6 p.m.

In a rematch of last year’s 4A state title game, the Warriors will be coming into to town to put their perfect 8-0 record on the line against the reigning champion Lions who are 8-2 and remain unbeaten against Alaska competition dating back to the 2017-18 season. That year, the only loss they suffered coincidentally came against Wasilla 55-33 on the road. When these teams last met to see who would be crowned champion, ACS emerged victorious 71-42, led by 2021-2022 Alaska Gatorade Player of the Year for girls basketball, Sayvia Sellers.

Boys

Bettye Davis East @ West, Friday 7:30 p.m.

The crosstown rivals will cross paths for the second time this season and for the first time in a non-tournament contest. The Thunderbirds beat the Eagles on their home court 68-62 at the Alaska Airlines Classic in their first meeting of the 2022-2023 season.

College

Basketball

UAA v UAF at Alaska Airlines Center, Saturday 5:15 p.m.

The Seawolves women’s program will face off with the Nanooks for the second time this season after suffering their first loss to their in-state rivals in the first meeting on Jan. 7. Following the rivalry game, the men’s team will play Central Washington at 7:30 p.m. which will be their second game of the week. The men’s team also plays Northwest Nazarene on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Gymnastics

UAA v William & Mary at Alaska Airlines Center, Friday 7 p.m. and Sunday 2 p.m.

The Seawolves will be back in town and in front of their home crowd to host a pair of meets over the weekend.

If you have any tips for items in future editions of “The Rewind,” email Josh Reed at jreed@adn.com.