Crimson Bears find Moose difficult to slow down on the ice

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears hockey team dropped two games on the road over the weekend, falling to last season’s Division II state third-place finisher Palmer Moose by scores of 4-3 on Friday and 8-4 on Saturday at the MTA Events Center in Palmer.

“Juneau is one of the toughest teams that we play against every year,” Palmer head coach Rusty Belanger said on Sunday. “I told the team they are a ‘grinder team.’ They don’t have the highest skill level, but they have teamwork and they buckle down together as a team and they grind and they make you work hard the whole game.”

On Friday Palmer led 1-0 in the first period on a power play goal by Moose senior Zidane Dietz (assist sr Peyton Neumann) after a tripping penalty on JDHS sr. Matthew Plang.

Palmer went up 3-0 early in the second period on goals by sr. Bryce Horacek (ast. Dietz, sr. Elijah Von Gunten) with 14:01 remaining and Von Gunten (ast. so. Kaleb Von Gunten) with 11:03 remaining.

JDHS came back with a flurry to pull within 3-2 with power play goals by sr. Luke Bovitz (ast. sr. Loren Platt) with 3:27 left in the second period and junior Elliot Welch unassisted with 44 seconds remaining to pull within 3-2.

Palmer was whistled for five penalties in the second period: unsportsmanlike conduct at 15:00 (K. Von Gunten), roughing (:29 (Neumann), tripping 5:58 (sr. Nicholas McQuillin), and head contact 1:06 (Dietz). JDHS had two: roughing 15:00 (sr. Carter Miller) and holding 9:29 (jr. Isaac Phelps)

Palmer took a 4-2 lead with 12:48 remaining to play in the third period on a goal by junior Zander Anderson (ast. K. Von Gunten) and JDHS would battle down to the last seconds getting a final unassisted goal by Welch with 32 seconds left in the game to pull to 4-3. Palmer had one penalty in the period: contact from behind 8:48 (sr. Brandon Horacek) and JDHS one: tripping 12:13 (Miller).

Palmer junior goalie Emily Christman stopped 18 of 21 Crimson Bears shots. JDHS senior goalie Caleb Friend stopped 37 of 41 Moose shots.

On Saturday Palmer again scored first with sr. Kiran Greco finding the net at 6:58 (ast. Dietz) but JDHS took control of the ice in the second period netting three goals.

“That is a common thing with us and Juneau,” Belanger said of the two game scores. “We’ll usually have one close one, whether it is the first or second, and then we’ll have one that is more wide open and free-flowing.”

The Crimson Bears Bovitz scored on a power play with 13:05 remaining (ast. sr. Emilio Holbrook), sr. Dylan Sowa scored at 12:39 (ast. Phelps) and Sowa scored again at 8:24 (ast. Phelps) for a 3-2 lead.

Palmer hit right back with 2:18 remaining in the second period on a goal by Greco (ast. Anderson) to tie 3-3.

“There were some key things in the game yesterday that kind of…I mean, they were up on us going early into the third period,” Belanger said. “But we came back and won…the guys on the ice that wear black and white striped shirts had a lot to do with what happened so that is all I am going to say there.”

JDHS responded in the top of the final period on an unassisted goal by Holbrook for a 4-3 advantage but the rest of the period belonged to the home team as the Moose scored five unanswered goals: Sr. Jacob Logan (ast. Horacek, sr. Cooper Frank) at 10:52, Frank (ast. Logan, Anderson) at 7:13, sr. Bryce Horacek (E. Von Gunten) at 5:56, K. Von Gunten (ast. E. Von Gunten) and a power play goal by E. von Gunten unassisted at with 38 seconds remaining in the game on a JDHS penalty for checking from behind on Bovitz, the Crimson Bears only penalty of the match.

“The start of the third period they came out and first shot on net scored so we pulled Emily, she had done well for us the night before and we put in our freshman (Ryder Lawson) and he just shut the door,” Belanger said. “That was all I could asked him to do, no more, and that was it.”

Palmer had four penalties: Roughing 3:04 1st period (sr. Kellen Kinneen), head contact 14:09 2nd period (Dietz), delay of game 2nd period (Christman, Anderson) and head contact 6:06 3rd period (Greco).

The Crimson Bears’ Friend stopped 28 of 36 shots on goal and the Moose’ Christman stopped 12 of 16 and backup goalie Lawson five of five after replacing Christman during the opening minutes of the final period.

“Christman is probably the best girl goaltender in the state of Alaska,” Belanger said. “She plays on three different teams, the girls high school team, the North Stars 19U girls and then us. I was talking to her dad the other day and he told me if she could play on six teams she would do it. She is dedicated to the sport, loves her position and the sport.”

Attempts to contact JDHS team officials after the game were unsuccessful.

In Friday JV action Palmer defeated JDHS 3-2.

Palmer goals came from Kinneen at 6:52 of the 1st period (ast. Eli Ringler), Ringler 10:30 2nd period (ast. Kinneen) and Kinneen 3:33 2nd period (ast. Ringler, Eamon Leonard). JDHS goals came from freshman Summit Bos at 4:42 of the 2nd period (ast. so. Ole Gifford, fr. Ryker Nelson) and jr. Nolan Cruz 9:32 2nd period (ast. Bos). Moose goalie Lawton stopped 23 of 25 shots, Crimson Bears so. goalie Taylor Petrie 18 of 21.

In Saturday JV action JDHS won 4-3 behind goals from Bos unassisted at 8:41 of the 2nd period, Bos 3:15 2nd (ast. Gifford), N. Cruz 2:01 2nd (ast. Bos) and so. John Melancon unassisted 6:00 3rd. Palmer had 3rd period goals from Lincoln Bosch 9:14 (ast. Kinneen, Jonah Engelbrecht), Leonard 8:48 (ast. Engelbrecht) and Thomas Foster unassisted 4:27. JDHS goalie Petrie stopped 30 of 33 shots, Palmer goalie Lawton 16 of 20.

“It was a good time,” Belanger said. “I love playing Matt (JDHS head coach Matt Boline) and his team, we love going to Juneau, we love having Juneau here, I respect them as a coaching staff a lot and they are good people. We are treated well when we go down there and we try to reciprocate that up here as well.”

JDHS next travels to defending DII state champ Houston (Dec. 5) and Homer (Dec. 6-7).

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.