Juneau Capitals youth skaters place second at tournament
- Klas Stolpe
- 13 hours ago
- 5 min read
12 and under team falls to Ice Dawgs in Presidents Day championship
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau Douglas Ice Association’s 12-and-under youth hockey team competed among 16 teams in the Alaska State Hockey Association’s Presidents Day “B” Tournament at Anchorage’s Ben Boeke Ice Arena last Friday through Sunday, losing in the championship game.
“I know we may not have gotten the results we wanted in the final game, but second out of 16 teams is pretty great,” Capitals coach Randy Host said. “The team continuously improved in each game we played this weekend. This group of kids made a ton of strides on and off the ice this weekend. There are so many reasons to be proud of this team.”
On Friday, the Juneau Capitals defeated the Pioneers from Palmer’s Pioneer Amateur Hockey Association 3-2 and lost to the Anchorage Hockey Association’s Rams 6-1.
In the game against the Pioneers, both teams scored two goals in the second period. Juneau tied the game at 1-1 with 9:39 left in the stanza on an unassisted goal by Indiana Strong and tied the game at 2-2 with 1:19 left in the stanza on an unassisted goal by Cooper Duval.
In the third period, Avery Barnaby put in the game-winning goal with 30 seconds remaining to play, assisted by Rylan Bettridge. Amelia Sapp earned the win in goal with 12 saves, and the Capitals put 13 shots against the Pioneers’ goalie. Each team had one penalty with Juneau’s Duval whistled for tripping.
“Amelia came up with some really big saves late in the game to preserve our 3-2 win,” Host said.
Against the Rams, the Juneau boys trailed 2-0 starting the second period and Miles Rowan scored unassisted with 6:12 left in the stanza. The Rams scored another goal in the period and three in the final period. The Rams put 27 shots on Capitals’ goalie Sapp, and Juneau had 17 shots against the Rams’ goalie. Juneau had no penalties, while the Rams had two body-checking infractions.
On Saturday, the Capitals defeated the Hockey Club of Fairbanks’ Heat 8-2 and the Kenai Peninsula Hockey Association’s Ice Hawks 5-2.
“I can’t wait for the state tournament next month,” Juneau’s Gleb Zimmerman said. “So we can play all these teams again.”
The Capitals put 32 shots against the Heat. In the first period, Miles Rowan scored unassisted at 4:50 and Zimmerman scored at 1:39, assisted by Simon Uttereyuk. In the second period, Zimmerman scored at 8:55, assisted by Hatcher Styers, and Rylan Bettridge scored at 2:27, assisted by Rowan. Zimmerman scored unassisted at 0:32.
In the third period, Rowan scored a power play goal unassisted at 5:55 and scored at 3:30 assisted by Zimmerman. Britta Jenkins scored at 2:44, assisted by Duval. Sapp faced just six shots in goal. Duval was whistled for roughing, the Heat for body checking and tripping.
“Both Miles and Gleb each recorded a hat trick,” Host said.
Against the Ice Hawks, Juneau put 23 shots on goal while Sapp faced 18 between the pipes. Juneau’s Kellen Farrell tied the game at 1-1 in the first period with a goal at 9:50, assisted by Rowan. In the second period, Rowan scored unassisted at 6:49 and Duval scored at 4:11 assisted by Zimmerman.
In the third period, Duval scored unassisted at 3:58 and Strong scored an unassisted power play goal at 3:28. Both teams had three penalties: Duval for body checking, Aden O’Brien for roughing and Uttereyuk for body checking, and the Ice Hawks for slashing three times.
On Sunday, the Capitals started by defeating Fairbanks’ HCF OTT 4-2 in a semifinal.
Juneau trailed 1-0 going into the second period, and Rowan tied the game with 1:15 left in the stanza on a power play assisted by Strong. Juneau trailed 2-1 in the third period before Strong tied the game at 6:43 assisted by Kellen Farrell. Duval scored at 5:24 assisted by Strong, and O’Brien scored at 1:17 assisted by Strong.
The Capitals put 29 shots on goal. Juneau’s Sapp faced 14 shots. Juneau had two penalties, Bettridge and Strong for tripping, and HCF was whistled for roughing and body checking twice.
“Aden O’Brien had a beautiful breakaway goal within the final two minutes to seal the victory,” Host said.
In their final game of the tournament, the Capitals lost to the Nikiski Ice Dawgs 6-0.
“This weekend was super fun,” Juneau’s Harrison Reid said. “We got to play in the championship game and my team (Seattle Seahawks) won the Super Bowl.”
The Ice Dawgs put 28 shots on goal and Sapp had one of the tournament’s best efforts among teams that fell to the ‘Dawgs. Juneau put five shots against their opponent’s goalie. Juneau had five penalties with Duval (holding, tripping, tripping), Uttereyuk (throwing stick), Reid (body checking) being whistled, while the ‘Dawgs were called for hooking twice, tripping and high sticking.
“In the championship game, the kids left everything they had on the ice,” Host said. “They really played their hearts out… I want to give a shoutout to all the parents and grandparents this weekend. I want to thank all the parents and grandparents for supporting their kids/grandkids and the coaching staff 100% this weekend. Having such a positive group of parents really helped make this weekend a big success.”
The Capitals 12U included Indiana Strong (#00), Avery Barnaby (7), Lennox Lee (9), Britta Jenkins (14), Miles Rowan (19), Kellen Farrell (27), Brooklyn Jenkins (28), Harrison “Cooper” Reid (29), Brynn Sooter (32), Rylan Bettridge (48), Hatcher Styers (51), Simon Uttereyuk (79), Hatcher Styers (51), Simon Uttereyuk (79), Aden Obrien (90), and Cooper Duval (93) and goalie Amelia Sapp (30).
The Juneau Capitals’ 14U and 16U teams will travel to the Presidents Day Tournament this weekend.
The Juneau Capitals will host the 18 & U “A” division state hockey tournament March 6-8 at the Treadwell Ice Arena. The first two days are round robin games and the top two teams play in Sunday’s final.
The tentative schedule for Friday, March 6: 8 a.m. KPHA vs. Jr. Avalanche; 1:15 p.m. Jr. Avalanche vs. Juneau; 6:30 p.m. Juneau vs. KPHA. Saturday, March 7: 8 a.m. Juneau vs. Jr. Avalanche; 1:15 p.m. KPHS vs. Juneau; 6:30 p.m. Jr. Avalanche vs. KPHA. Sunday, March 8: 8 a.m., 1st in points vs. 2nd in points.
The Capitals two 10UB teams will travel to the state tournament in Anchorage, which is March 6-9; Capitals 16UB to state in Fairbanks, March 13-15; the Capitals 12UB to state in Kenai, March 20-22; and the Capitals 14U A team to state in Fairbanks, March 20-22.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
