The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears hockey team completed their second doubleheader of the weekend on Saturday as they skated past Division I Railbelt Conference Wasilla 3-1 early in the afternoon. But the grind of four games caught up to them in a 4-2 loss to DII Aurora Conference foe Tri-Valley.

JDHS had topped both the visiting Warriors’ teams on Friday, defeating Tri-Valley 8-3 and Wasilla 2-1.

“Besides the final game it was a pretty good weekend for us,” JDHS senior captain Luke Bovitz said. “We beat Wasilla twice which were two huge games for us and huge morale boosters. I am excited for state. The team, except for tonight, played every game like we needed to play.”

On Saturday against Wasilla JDHS skated through two periods with plenty of chances, but no results and suffered an unlucky bounce in the second period when Wasilla’s Chase Malstrom put the puck to bed unassisted with 2:30 remaining in the stanza.

The Crimson Bears only needed one stanza to work ice magic and they put three goals on target for the win.

Bovitz tied the game at 1-1 with 7:37 left in the game, assisted by senior Matthew Plang.

Junior Elliot Welch gave JDHS the lead with a goal unassisted with 3:19 left and Bovitz put an icing on the win with a score in the final seven seconds assisted by senior Emilio Holbrook.

Senior goalie Caleb Friend stopped 25 shots in the contest and Wasilla’s Carson Branholm 20.

“We got what we needed this weekend,” JDHS coach Matt Boline said. “We got two really big wins, three out of four wins…four games in two days is tough no matter what. Tonight looked like we had some tired players out there and I guess they should be tired, they played a lot of hockey.”

The night cap against Tri-Valley would be the last high school home ice for the Crimson Bears senior class and all 10 were listed in the line up although the ice time was divided among 37 high school different players in the four-game series.

“It was kind of a letdown after the two big wins we had against Wasilla this weekend,” Plang said of the Tri-Valley nightcap. “But everyone is just really tired after those two big wins and I think everyone left it all out there on the ice and we had fun. It wasn’t the result we wanted but it’s OK.”

Sophomore Drew Cadigan-McAdoo put the Crimson Bears up against the Tri-Valley Warriors with 2:56 remaining in the first period assisted by classmates Bryden Roberts and Bovitz.

Tri-Valley scored three goals in the third period. The first came on a power play by Quincy Hjorth unassisted with 13:52 left in the stanza. The second by Taylor Eddington with seven minutes left assisted by Hjorth and Owen Jusczak. The third by Hjorth came with 4:11 left in the stanza assisted by Jusczak.

Tri-Valley hit again with 10:56 left in the third period as Mike Renshaw found the net unassisted.

The final goal of the home high school season would find a fitting honoree as Bovitz put his last career home score in the net unassisted with 6:57 left in the stanza.

Bovitz would be named the player of the game for JDHS.

“This was pretty special,” Bovitz said. “It’s the last home game I’ll ever play. It’s an honor. It’s something that you strive for, you have to work for it and it is great to win, but it can always go to multiple people throughout a game.”

The Crimson Bears had goalie Taylor Petrie minding the net and the sophomore stopped an admirable 20 shots as did Tri-Valley’s more experienced Elijah Graham.

“It was a big deal,” JDHS senior Loren Platt said of the weekend series. “We all grew up here as little guys watching high school hockey. It is kind of the biggest thing here, there’s not juniors, there’s not professionals…high school hockey is a big thing around here in Juneau. It is really interesting being a little guy, coming to all the games, watching the big players and now standing in these shoes, my last game, at home.”

Platt said he noticed the little guys in the stands Saturday.

“There are always little ones on the stands, pounding on the glass as you’re running out the gates,” he said. “They’re always there, fist bumping…you can see the big smiles on their faces every game.”

Platt said the weekend was long, “And yesterday and today we had two of our best games we have played all season as a team, all of us contributed. We’re going to bring that to State. We’re in the right mindset and we’re going to get it done.”

JDHS will play in the s2025 ASAA First National Cup Hockey State Tournament at the Soldotna Sports Complex Feb. 6-8.

“Really the energy of the whole team as a whole is what we take from this weekend into State,” Plang said. “What it put forth and what it produced and it really showed in our wins.”

Plang said, “The final game was kind of surreal. The last 20 seconds I was looking up at the clock, like, ‘Wow. This is the last 20 seconds of my last ever home game.’ It is kind of sad but it is good looking back on the memories.”

JDHS had toppled both the Warriors teams on Friday defeating Tri-Valley 8-3 and Wasilla 2-1.

“Ultimately the weekend was awesome,” Boline said. “We haven’t had like an official hockey day in Juneau, but today felt like a hockey day in Juneau. It started with the Little Caps playing earlier in the day, then the 8Us and the high school. I think there were eight games back-to-back-to back, all day long with youth hockey and two high school hockey games. Yeah, it was a great weekend at the rink, a lot of recognition of some people that came before us…a great weekend.”

The evening was also #LiveLikeMatthewC Night, dedicated to former player Matthew Peter Campbell (08/08/1995-04/19/2020) who passed away from stage 4 cancer at the age of 24. A memorial display was set up with commemorative bracelets and information regarding the Matthew Campbell Scholarship Fund.

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