The Rewind: Chugiak hockey takes region tourney, UAA women’s basketball blasts UAF and Alyeska Cup skiers catch air

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 Chugiak boys hockey team stayed hot on the ice and is heading into state with an undefeated record intact while top-ranked Division II Houston fell short of its title defense in the semifinals. On the college scene, the University of Alaska Anchorage women’s basketball team blew out in-state rival University of Alaska Fairbanks and the men’s team ended a losing skid.

Headlines and highlights

The Chugiak boys varsity hockey team continued its streak of dominance over conference competition by winning the Cook Inlet Conference regional tournament to remain unbeaten on the year, punch its ticket to the state tourney, and further cement its place atop prep hockey in the Last Frontier. Senior goaltender Daegen Love produced a fourth straight shutout in the Mustangs’ wins over Dimond and South as the team stayed hot heading into this week’s Division I state championship tournament.

[Chugiak hockey shuts out South High to win CIC tournament title]

The Division II state hockey tournament took place up in Fairbanks over the weekend and in a stunning turn of events, top-ranked Houston not only didn’t emerge victorious, the defending champion Hawks fell short of the championship game altogether. They were upset in the semifinal round by Juneau-Douglas, which would go on to fall to Soldotna in the title tilt and earn a chance to play for the Division I crown as well.

The most exciting prep hockey game of the past week wasn’t even a finals matchup. It occurred on Thursday in the semifinals of the CIC tourney between South and West. The game went to seven overtime periods and resulted in a thrilling 4-3 victory for the Wolverines over the Eagles thanks to a game-winning goal by sophomore defenseman Bryce Webb.

[South High hockey vaults into conference championship game, toppling West in 7 overtimes]

On the high school hoops scene, the boys teams of crosstown rivals Bettye Davis East and West Anchorage faced off this past Friday night for the second time this season. The Thunderbirds came away victorious again and this time it came in commanding fashion even though their final margin of victory over the Eagles suggested a closer contest. At one point, they led by as many as 30 points late in the third quarter and had five players record double figures in points.

[Bettye Davis East dominates with depth in statement win over crosstown rival West]

On the girls’ side, last Tuesday night featured a rematch of the 2022 4A state championship game when reigning champion Anchorage Christian School hosted Wasilla for a Northern Lights conference matchup. After a back-and-forth game to start, the Lions pulled away and eventually prevailed, handing the Warriors their first loss of the season.

[Anchorage Christian tops Wasilla in battle of top-ranked girls basketball teams]

After having their eight-game win streak snapped, Wasilla would rebound by winning the Lady Lynx Tournament hosted by Dimond. The Warriors ran the table and notched victories over Ketchikan, the hosting team, and conference foe Colony, which it will be facing at home in a regular-season matchup on Tuesday night.

Scholastic bowling saw the Eagle River boys continue to dominate the lanes as they remained undefeated and increased their league-leading winning streak to 13 matches to start the year. The Wolves started the week with a 35-0 shutout of rival Chugiak on Tuesday followed by a 25-8 blowout of West on Thursday.

On the college hoops scene, the UAA women’s team avenged a stunning upset loss to in-state rival UAF by dominating on both ends of the court. The Seawolves used a suffocating defense and explosive offense to jump on the Nanooks early and had nearly tripled their opponent’s point total by halftime before going on to win by 30 points. Senior guard Jahnna Hajdukovich led the team in scoring with 14 first-half points while sophomore Jazzpher Evans came in second and was the only other player on the team to record double figures in scoring with 10 points.

[Solid defense, explosive offense propel UAA women’s basketball to blowout win over UAF]

The men’s team split the pair of home games that they played this past week by narrowly dropping their first to Northwest Nazarene on Thursday and ending their four-game skid in the second with a 10-point win over Central Washington on Saturday. Junior guard Lachlan Viney led the team in scoring over the course of the two games with a combined 28 points that included a season-high 21 in the Seawolves’ win over the Wildcats.

The UAA nordic ski team produced four top-10 finishes at the Colorado University Invite this past Saturday. Pascale Paradis finished ninth (15:07) in the five-kilometer freestyle, Magnus Noroey was the top Seawolf in the men’s 10-kilometer race, finishing eighth (27:27), and Ari Endestad and Matt Seline finished ninth (27:29) and 10th (27:34).

The Anchorage Wolverines were on the road this past week for a three-game series with the Springfield Jr. Blues. After winning the first game in overtime 4-3, they would fall in the following two that included a 7-0 shutout in the second and a 4-2 defeat in the third.

Racers in the Alyeska Cup super-G on Thursday and Friday balanced speed against on-course fog that challenged vision but didn’t prevent U21 Georgia Lantz and U18 Tanner Murphy from overall and class wins Friday. It was a continuation of a strong season for both skiers. The U12 and U14 classes had to battle the fog Thursday as well, causing a delay in Race 2. On Thursday, the fastest male time of the day was from U14 racer Gus Westerlund at 52.41 and the fastest female time of the day was Elizabeth Hutcheson at 53.41. Racers from Arctic Valley, Hilltop, Alyeska Ski Club and Juneau Ski Club competed in the event.

Alaska stars shining Outside

Anchorage’s Alissa Pili had quite the impressive seven-day stretch as she was named a finalist for the Katrina McClain Award, which recognizes the top power forward in women’s NCAA Division I basketball. She followed that up by having arguably the best overall performance of her collegiate career on Sunday in the University of Utah women’s basketball team’s 100-92 victory over Pac-12 foe Oregon. The former Dimond High School prep star led the Utes with a season-high 30 points, a career-high six assists, and seven rebounds. Pili finished 12-for-18 shooting from the field in her team’s fifth straight win and 20th of the season that included going 3-of-4 from behind the arc.

Seward’s Lydia Jacoby continued to set records in the 100-yard breaststroke and broke her own 17-18 national age-group record last weekend as the 18-year-old Olympic gold medalist produced a winning time of 57.45 seconds. The University of Texas freshman lowered her previous personal best of 57.54 set earlier this season and posted an even faster time of 57.13 during the second leg in the medley relay. She also won the 200 breaststroke and was part of a winning 400 medley relay team for the No. 2 ranked Longhorns.

Alaska Pacific University Ski Team member Rosie Brennan teamed up with Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern and Hailey Swirbul to lead the USA Women’s Cross Country Skiing Team to a third-place finish at the Toblach Team Relay in Italy on Sunday. The group covered the 7.5-kilometer race in 1:16:31.2 which was just behind second place Sweden, which posted a 1:16:31.0.

“Jessie and Julia skied great legs and managed to keep us in the fight for third,” Brennan said in a statement. “Classic skis continue to be a struggle for us so we will also have to put some effort into that as well. I felt we all had some good battles out there and also know where we need to look to improve.”

Last week’s results

Prep Basketball

Girls

Monday

Chugiak 41, East 30

Tuesday

ACS 62, Wasilla 49

Su Valley 48, Tanalian 21

Grace 48, Homer 16

Dimond 50, Bartlett 45

West 53, Eagle River 8

Nikiski 26, Kenai 17

Chugiak 40, Service 22

South 47, East 35

Wednesday

Ketchikan 40, South 34

Juneau-Douglass 73, Service 13

Thursday

Dimond 53, Palmer 37

Friday

South 34, Service 27

West 55, East 16

Wasilla 50, Diamond 36

Boys

Monday

East 71, Chugiak 43

Cordova 48, Su Valley 35

Tuesday

East 61, South 39

Dimond 74, Bartlett 46

Wasilla 78, ACS 66

Kenai 82, Nikiski 50

Su Valley 70, Tanalian 22

Grace Christian 53, Homer 33

Service 79, Chugiak 48

Wednesday

West Valley 52, Monroe Catholic 30

Juneau Douglas 55, Thunder Mtn 54

Cordova 60, Effie Kokrine 47

Thursday

Juneau Douglas 54, Thunder Mountain 52

Kodiak 60, Hutchison 9

Tri Valley 59, King Cove 58

Houston 95, Eielson 27

Ninilchik 58, Seward 37

Nelson Island 83, Kalskag 38

Delta 75, Galena 45

ACS 61, Valdez 51

Scammon Bay 83, Dillingham 39

Friday

Monroe 55, Lathrop 35

Ninilchik 70, Eielson 41

Houston 56, Seward 30

Grace 72, Valdez 47

Dimond 82, Chugiak 38

East 77, West 64

South 50, Service 49

Kodiak 62, Hutch 12

Bartlett 54, Eagle River 50

Edgecumbe 72, Sitka 58

Kayhi 83, Wasilla 62

Delta 69, Galena 56

Nome 64, North Pole 50

Scammon Bay 70, Nelson Island 66

Gambell 70, St. Marys 63

Klawock 37, Yakut 32

Kotzebue 70, Unalakleet 52

Tikigaq 71, Noatak 68

Bethel 75, Palmer 70

Hooper Bay, 82 Emmonak 44

Homer 53, Nikiski 37

Cook Inlet 55, Sand Point 54

Saturday

Houston 63, Ninilchik 59 OT

Kodiak 55, Lathrop 44

Grace 46, Kenai 28

Buckland 81, Kiana 17

Kotz 72, Unalakleet 47

Kayhi 70, Wasilla 68

Klawock 56, Yakutat 47

Palmer 48, Bethel 38

Soldotna 61, Homer 37

Seward 36, Eielson 20

Nome 56, North Pole 45

Sitka 46, Mt. Edgecumbe 32

Gambell 73, Savoonga 69

Nightmute 48, Newtok 32

Scammon Bay 76, Aniak 64

Hooper Bay 87, Check 62

Cook Inlet 62, Tri Valley 46

Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches Power Rankings

4A Girls

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

4A Boys

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

3A Girls

1. Grace Christian
2. Monroe Catholic
3. Mt Edgecumbe
4. Barrow
5. Sitka

3A Boys

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

2A Girls

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

2A Boys

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

1A Girls

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

1A Boys

1. Scammon Bay
2. Cook Inlet Academy
3. Klawock
4. Minto
5. Nelson Island (Tooksook Bay)

Bowling

Tuesday

Boys

Dimond 25, Service 10

West 32, East 3

Eagle River 35, Chugiak 0

South 33, Bartlett 2

Girls

Dimond 27, Service 8

West 22, East 13

Chugiak 25, Eagle River 10

Bartlett 31, South 4

Thursday

Boys

Dimond 35, Bartlett 0

Eagle River 27, West 8

Service 27, East 8

South 25, Chugiak 0

Girls

Dimond 32, Bartlett 3

Eagle River 29, West 6

Service 25, East 10

Chugiak 33, South 2

Hockey

Monday

Eagle River 5, Bartlett 2

Tuesday

West 13, Eagle River 0

Dimond 6, Service 2

Thursday

Houston 8, Delta 0

Juneau-Douglas 7, Kenai Central 4

Soldotna 3, Monroe-Catholic 2

Palmer 4, North Pole 3

Chugiak 4, Dimond 0

South 4, West 3 (7 OT)

Friday

Service 9, Eagle River 1

West 3, Dimond 2

Soldotna 1, Palmer 0

Juneau-Douglass 4, Houston 3

Saturday

Houston 4, Palmer 0

Soldotna 2, Juneau-Douglas 1

Chugiak 3, South 0

College

Women’s Basketball

Saturday

UAA 69, UAF 39

Men’s Basketball

Thursday

Northwest Nazarene 74, UAA 71

Saturday

UAA 76, Central Washington 66

Gymnastics

Friday

William & Mary 190.475, UAA 190.300

Sunday

UAA 193.700, William & Mary 192.775

NAHL

Thursday

Anchorage Wolverines 4, Springfield Jr. Blues 3 (OT)

Friday

Springfield Jr. Blues 7, Anchorage Wolverines 0

Saturday

Springfield Jr. Blues 4, Anchorage Wolverines 2

Fast Forward

Prep

Hockey

Division I Hockey ASAA State Championships at Menard Center in Wasilla

Even though this event won’t be taking place in town, the Anchorage municipality will be well represented at the state tournament with four Cook Inlet Conference teams making up half of the bracket, including top-seeded Chugiak, which will be looking to stay undefeated and claim the ultimate prize.

Basketball

Girls

Lady Grizzly Hardwood Classic

The top-ranked 3A Grace Christian girls basketball team will host its annual varsity basketball tournament this week at South Anchorage High School. It will feature nine teams from all four levels of competition including 1A Lumen Christi, reigning 2A state champion Tikigaq and a pair of Cook Inlet Conference 4A teams in Service and Dimond. The action will tip off on Thursday at 3 p.m. with a matchup between the Cougars and Harpoonerettes and run through Saturday with the title tilt slated for 3:15 p.m.

Skiing

Cross Country Skiing Region IV Championships

The postseason for the 2023 season will officially get underway this week in Anchorage, and Kincaid Park will be where the Cook Inlet Conference teams will face off to see who gets to punch their ticket to the state championship the following week. The event will take place over the course of two days with a classic race Friday at noon and a freestyle race on Saturday at 11 a.m.

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