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JDHS battling through fourth game in five days
Crimson Bears finding their path on the ice as season gets underway in 'Moose country'
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Baby steps are hard. Baby steps on ice skates can be even more challenging, but the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé hockey team has made progress despite what records show.
JDHS has played four games in five days in Palmer to open the season and, while sitting at 1-3, they have skated like 3-1. And their best game came Monday night against the traditional power Palmer Moose at the Palmer Sports Center in Northern Lights Conference play.
“It is different teams and different stakes when you have a conference game going on,” JDHS head coach Matt Boline said. “Both teams were digging in hard to win.”
JDHS put 22 shots against Palmer junior goalie Ryder Lawton, while the Moose put 23 shots against Crimson Bears freshman goalie Max Hayes and senior goalie Taylor Petrie.
“You saw a lot of emotion out there too,” Boline said. “I told the kids in between the second and third periods that we don’t win and lose games on talent, it is all on emotions. We have to keep our emotions in check so we can stay on top of things and do things the right way. And we didn’t do that in the second period. That is when we let them in, and we let them run on their emotions, and it ended up carrying them into and through the third period. We will have a better game tomorrow, I think.”
JDHS skated even with Palmer in the first period, and put nine shots into the Moose crease. The Crimson Bears played a solid middle and backed Hayes in the neutral zone and backchecking into their net front. Both sides garnished one penalty apiece and each stymied the man-advantage of their opponents.
Moose sophomore Ashton Johnson scored a shorthanded goal at 8:27 of the second period, assisted by senior Sienna Skogstad. Skogstad added a goal roughly three minutes later, connecting on a shot at 5:52, assisted by junior Parker Popowski for a 2-0 advantage.
JDHS put eight shots against Palmer’s Lawton in the second period and the Moose put 10 shots against the Crimson Bears’ Petrie.
“I think we were definitely listening to the dark side in the second period,” Boline said. “We had most of our penalties in the third period, but that is just what happens when other teams are getting good chances.”
Palmer came out of the gate in the third period with a goal by senior Thomas Foster at 12:29, assisted by senior Dominik Maya and sophomore Jaxon Burnett, for a 3-0 lead.
JDHS found their moment at 9:37 and freshman Calen Sooter found a hole past Palmer’s Lawton for his first career goal. Senior Tricen Headings had the assist.
“We are always a team that builds over the season,” Headings said. “We start from low to high. These early games are just good experiences early in the season. Just building everything up, getting up to speed. I think we are on pace to be pretty good.”
JDHS had five shots against the Moose crease in the period, and Palmer put seven at the Crimson Bears.
The Moose found the last goal with 7:55 left in the game, with senior Tavian Mukaabya earning the score assisted by sophomore Isaac Hale for the 4-1 final.
JDHS’ Sooter earned the Crimson Bears Most Valuable Player of the match and Palmer’s Johnson earned the Moose’s MVP honor.
JDHS coaches noted that senior leadership was key on the night. Players who had their best game of this last stretch of four contests included Headings, senior Drew Cadigan-McAdoo, senior Caden Morris, senior Bryden Roberts and senior goalie Petrie who stepped into the pipes when Hayes went out.
“From our first game to this game our mental game has gone up and gotten a lot stronger,” Roberts said. “Our first game, when they were beating us we came with our heads down a lot. But tonight I did not see many down faces. We came back, we bounced back, put that goal in the net.”
JDHS had fallen to the Houston Hawks 7-1 in Palmers’ Stars and Stripes Hockey Tournament on Thursday.
JDHS junior had the lone first-period goal (assist Sooter) and Hayes faced 37 shots in the crease while the Crimson Bears shot 27 times.
“The one thing we need to work on is that we play too good to be affected by our opponents' goals,” Roberts said. “We played a really solid game out there tonight. We just have to work on putting the pucks in the net. There are just some of those games where they put the pucks in the net and that is just the way it goes. They capitalized on our mistakes, but we are going to bounce back, start working on the same thing, capitalizing on theirs. Putting those pucks deep and in their net.”
Added Headings, “You can’t hang your head over tough losses. We upperclassmen just have to encourage our newer players to get it the next game, do it better. That is what we all need to do.”
JDHS defeated West Valley 4-3 on Friday in the Stars and Stripes with first period goals by junior Summit Bos (assisted by sophomore Manu Adams and Morris) and Bos (assisted by Adams and junior Ryker Nelson; a second period goal from Morris (assist Sooter); and a third period goal by sophomore Santiago Hoff (assist Adams and Bos). Hayes stopped 20 of 23 shots. JDHS fired 24 against the Wolfpack.
The Crimson Bears lost to Wasilla 4-0 on Saturday to close out Stars and Stripes play, placing 10th out of the 12 teams skating. The Colony Knights were first (defeated Lathrop 2-0, defeated Delta 5-0, defeated North Pole 7-1), Wasilla second (defeated Kenai 3-1, defeated Soldotna 5-1, defeated JDHS 4-0) and Palmer third (tied North Pole 3-3, defeated Lathrop 4-3, defeated Eagle River 2-1).
JDHS faces Palmer again on Tuesday with JV action at 5 p.m. and varsity at 7 p.m. in the Palmer Sports Center (formerly the MTA Events Center).
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
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