High School Sports

Rink redemption: Year after falling in final, Chugiak seizes state hockey crown

WASILLA — Saturday morning, Jack Walters dipped into his past and used it as a springboard to his future. Chugiak High's junior goaltender opened his hockey scrapbook and stared at a newspaper clipping from his team's state-championship game loss to West last year. The picture that accompanied the story on the front page of the sports section captured Alex Bardsley snapping the game-winning goal over Walters' glove deep into the third period.

"I looked at it for a couple minutes,'' Walters said Saturday night. "That wasn't going to happen again.''

Not even close.

Walters repelled 31 shots at the Menard Center and Andrew Beckett figured in every goal to spearhead the Mustangs to a 3-0 victory over South that delivered the program's fifth state title and first since 2000, when current coach Rodney Wild was a rookie bench boss.

A year after enduring hockey heartbreak, the Mustangs savored rink redemption — the First National Cup was theirs.

From the outset, Walters appeared in command. He smothered the puck when necessary and steered rebounds to safe areas. His body language spoke of a masked man confident and determined, and aggressive. He did not let the game come to him so much as he seized it.

"Shooting on him in warm-ups, and talking to him in the locker room, he seemed dialed in,'' said Mustangs sophomore defenseman Zach Plucinski.

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Plucinski said Walters treated warm-ups like a game. "Couldn't get one by him,'' the blueliner said.

And even when Chugiak carried a 2-0 lead into the third period and Wolverines forward Ben Trujillo busted in on a breakaway in the opening minute, Walters did not falter.

"I saw the breakaway and I was like, 'He's got this, no worries,' '' Beckett said.

A goaltender that exudes confidence and backs it up with his play buoys a team. Forwards and defensemen play with more poise, assert themselves and don't fret so much about making mistakes. And Walters on Saturday had a quiet swagger to his game.

"It was my net,'' he said.

The Mustangs last season lost 4-1 in the state final to West, but that score was not indicative of Walters' excellence that night. He surrendered two goal — Bardsley's winner came with less than three minutes left and the last two goals in his hat trick were into an empty net — and snuffed 34 shots.

Walters on Saturday was aided by a defense that stuck to the middle of the ice to force puck carriers wide and also occasionally swept away rebounds, a combination that along with Walters' sharpness kept the Wolverines from generating flurries or getting second-chance opportunities.

"Shutout,'' Wild said as he looked at the scoreboard afterward. "He was great and so were the defense. It was the forwards too. Guys blocked shots, great back-checking. It was an example of a total buy-in.''

In two tournament games this year — a 5-1 semifinal win over Colony and Saturday's title game — Walters stopped 45 of 46 shots for a .978 save percentage. In five career games at the state tournament, he has stopped 122 of 128 shots for a .953 save percentage.

Offensively on Saturday, Beckett, a senior left wing, took care of business — two goals and one assist. He captured a turnover that led to Brady Lindberg's goal five minutes into the second period, scored on a wrister off the rush less than four minutes later and sealed victory with an empty-net goal with 1:21 remaining.

"Show me someone more determined,'' Wild said. "Nobody competes more than that kid.''

After Beckett snatched a turnover high in South's zone, he relayed the puck down low to linemate Zach Krajnik. Krajnik found Lindberg all alone in the high slot and the senior snapped a shot past freshman Hannah Hogenson (18 saves), who kept the Wolverines within sniffing distance all night.

"Scoring the first goal in your last game — it's the best feeling in the world,'' Lindberg said.

The Mustangs felt good, and stayed calm, throughout. Wild, wearing an all-black suit, started the third period behind the bench sipping coffee from a Styrofoam cup. When the cup was empty, he set it aside and folded his arms across his chest. And when each team used its timeout in the last four minutes, he both times told his team to relax.

By the game's late stages, Chugiak fans chanted, "Jack Walters, Jack Walters,'' and "I believe that we will win! I believe that we will win!'' During the last timeout, called by South,'' "Paradise City'' blared over the public address system.

When the final horn blew, the Mustangs poured over the boards. They shed their helmets and sticks and gloves, mobbed Walters, and then went through the handshake line with the Wolverines.

A year after losing the final game, victory was theirs, and so was the First National Cup.

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"We know what it's like to lose,'' Lindberg said, "and we came back hungry.''

And now Jack Walters presumably will have a more cheerful newspaper clipping for his scrapbook.

ASAA/First National Bank Alaska

First National Cup

All-Tournament Team

Tanner Rath, Dimond; Cam McDonald, Eagle River; Sutton McDonald, Eagle River; Jake Hessinger, Colony; Jake Kirsch, Colony; Asa Kinnear, South; Ben Trujillo, South; Noah Ashley, South; Andrew Beckett, Chugiak; Zach Krajnik, South; John Hammer, Chugiak; Jack Walters, Chugiak.

Colony 4, Eagle River 3, OT

Cooper Smith's wrister from the low slot 1 minute, 56 seconds into overtime earned the Knights the victory and third place.

Eagle River, which trailed 2-0 seven minutes into the game and 3-1 early in the third period, used goals from Joshua Linn and Sutton McDonald to get to extra time. McDonald's extra-attacker jam job with 23.6 seconds left in regulation forged a 3-3 tie.

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Jake Kirsch scored two first-period goals for Colony — the first on a shot from low in the left circle, the second on a deflection — to generate a cushion. Ben Rinckey scored early in the second period for Eagle River, but Colony's Tristan Avoletta midway through the period restored the two-goal lead.

Joey Diltz made 22 saves for Colony.

Ryan Gray came on in relief in the first period for Eagle River, which finished fifth, and stopped 21 of 23 shots.

Dimond 5, West Valley 1

Ryan Perius and Tanner Roth furnished three-point games in Dimond's 5-1 victory over West Valley that secured fourth place for the Lynx.

Perius contributed two goals and an assist, and Roth added one goal and two helpers. Jaden Gibson and Brendan Anaruk also scored goals for Dimond, and Ted Stevens and Blue Hildebrand combined for 21 saves.

Dustin Sadler scored for West Valley, which finished sixth.

Doyle Woody

Doyle Woody covered hockey and other sports for the Anchorage Daily News for 34 years.

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