Crimson Bears skate well in stumble against Moose
- Klas Stolpe
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
JDHS falls to defending state champ Palmer in season opener
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears varsity hockey team skated well in their 2025-26 season opener Friday at Treadwell Arena against the defending state champion Palmer Moose despite finding themselves on the unlucky end of a 7-2 score.
“First game of the year,” JDHS coach Matt Boline said. “We like to talk a lot about wins and losses don’t really matter as much as how we play the game, and I think everything except for the scoreboard we won today. We controlled the puck, controlled the pace of play, outshot them, all of it.”
The JDHS starting puck drop saw junior Tricen Headings, senior Paxton Mertl, junior Caden Morris, senior Isaac Phelps and senior Elliot Welch ready for the task of facing Palmer senior Chase Ringler, senior Levi Goff, sophomore Eli Ringler, junior Dominik Maya and senior Zander Anderson. The first minutes of action were kept away from Crimson Bears junior keeper Taylor Petrie as JDHS kept the puck moving towards Moose junior keeper Kai Curl.
JDHS’ Welch would get the first clear attacking shot with 10:54 still to play in the first period, but Palmer’s Curl covered the puck. Roughly 25 seconds later JDHS freshman Paxton Willoughby had a hard attempt, and another series later sophomore Summit Bos and Mertl peppered the puck as well.
Despite the JDHS intensity Palmer would find the Crimson Bears net three times in the first period with goals by C. Ringler at 7:30 (assisted by Goff and E. Ringler), junior Clayton Conrad at 2:31 unassisted and Conrad at 2:14 (freshman Kolby Wessel, C. Ringler). Palmer’s C. Ringler would get his second goal minutes into the second period (assisted by Goff) for a 4-0 lead despite JDHS controlling the puck for most of that time.
JDHS’ Boline commented that the Crimson Bears had a "Forecheck, backcheck, paycheck" mentality in their gutsy play into the second period.
“That means you are working hard,” Boline said. “When they have the puck you are attacking the puck really hard and getting after them. And when you are coming back in your own defensive zone you’re back-checking, you’re working hard to get that puck back and go the other way with it. And when you do both those things you get paid on the scoreboard.”
That first paycheck was addressed to JDHS’ Mertl as he beat a defender at the blue line and put a hard slap shot over Palmer goalie Curl’s shoulder to trail 4-1.
“I kept my head up,” Mertl said. “I saw the defender, he stepped up on me and I just moved around him. The goalie, I just threw a little fake shot and he didn’t bite for it so I just shot it five-hole.”
When Palmer’s Curl did not move on the fake it meant the goalie was comfortable and expecting the shot. And Mertl was ready to give it to him.
“I had that shot in my head,” Mertl said. “I had it planned out already…I think overall we played well. It was a really good first game of the season. I think next game we just need to step it up. Just stay with them the entire time.”
Said Boline, “Paxton’s a shooter. He’s a student of the game. He watches, he sees where there are soft spots, where there is a little hole in the Death Star, so to speak. And their goalie is great. He weathered the storm for a long time before we put one in. Paxton found it, then we got one more, and I think we will just keep chipping away and maybe tomorrow it will be a little bit different outcome.”
JDHS’ Welch notched the Crimson Bears' second goal of the season just seconds into the third period on a power play, assisted by Headings and Morris, to trail 4-2.
“Unfortunate,” Welch said of the loss. “That is how the outcome came out. We played well for our first game. All the coaches liked it. The team liked it. Just a disappointing outcome for the team. It was rough. Pucks bouncing in, some just from the blue line. We just have to lock down our defense next game. Have a little more offense and a couple more scoring opportunities. We had lots of shots, we’ve just got to have some chaos in front of the net.”
JDHS would put 30 shots against Palmer’s Curl on the night. The Moose would fire 24 at the Crimson Bears’ Petrie.
Palmer’s fifth goal came with 9:39 remaining in the third period on an unlucky bounce shot by Conrad.
Now trailing 5-2 JDHS called timeout and the Crimson Bears’ Petrie fired up the huddle.
“We were looking a little antsy,” Petrie said. “I could tell they were kind of on the edge, they really wanted it, but we just couldn’t power through. I was just like ‘let’s take a second, collect ourselves. Why are we playing the game? We are playing to win. Let’s put our heads back in, let’s lock in and let’s get it done.’ They were up to it. Tomorrow I think we just need to pull together a little more as a team, but I think overall, even with the loss, it was a pretty good game for the first of the season.”
Palmer’s Conrad would add another goal with 3:34 remaining, assisted by Anderson, and Moose sophomore Jonah Engelbrecht slapped the final puck in with 18.7 ticks left, assisted by junior Sienna Skogstad.
JDHS’ Petrie stopped 17 shots in goal, Palmer’s Curl 28. There were only three penalties called during the night. Palmer was whistled for high sticking and a bench minor in the second period. JDHS had too many men on the ice in the third period.
The three stars of the game were awarded to Palmer’s C. Ringler, JDHS’ Mertl and the top star to Palmer’s Conrad.
The JV Crimson Bears squad had a packed stands warmed up and ready for cheering action in their 3-1 loss to the Palmer JV. The Crimson Bears JV had skated to a 1-1 tie over two periods.
“I have never seen the parking lot so full for a JV game,” Boline said.
JDHS senior Hunter Lingle scored for the Crimson Bears (assist junior Brandon Cruz) and Palmer’s Nikolas Dokken (Nathandel Hale, Parker Popowski), Isaac Hale (Thomas Foster) and Maxim Coleman (Tyler McCrary) found the net for the Moose.
JDHS freshman Murphy Sheehan stopped 19 shots in goal, Palmer’s Mily Christmas 10.
Saturday JV begins at 1:30 p.m. with varsity play at 3:30 p.m.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
