Storm system scrambles weekend sports plans
- Klas Stolpe
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Juneau School District cancels school and activities for Friday and Saturday
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Ketchikan Lady Kings basketball team won't travel to Juneau for this weekend’s scheduled games against the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears due to ongoing weather-related hazards, including a flood watch that followed record-setting snowfall in the capital city.
“I made the decision based on the current state of emergency you guys are in and the weather forecast we are seeing for the amount of snow and rain on top of that coming into Juneau,” said Ketchikan High School principal Jared Garlick. “Perfect case: everything would work out just fine. But there is just a lot of other case scenarios that could affect our students' safety and things like that, so we just don’t feel comfortable sending them this weekend due to the current state of weather and the weather forecast, too.”
The games had been scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The Juneau School District late Thursday also canceled for Friday school and after school activities. In an email from the JSD it stated the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Hockey games at Treadwell Arena are also canceled. JDHS had been scheduled to play the Homer Mariners on Friday and Saturday.
Earlier Thursday JDHS hockey coach Matt Boline was excited for the opportunity to get back on the ice after the long holiday layoff and weather disruptions, noting that "Homer has been in rebuilding mode since having to fold their program a few years ago. They were a powerhouse prior to that and had been steadily getting stronger. Based on scouting and watching scores, it looks like they’ve got some strong goaltending that helps to keep them in games. We will be looking at scoring goals whatever way we can this weekend and expect to get our noses dirty doing the hard work in front of their net.”
Thursday night Boline said, "We can't catch a break."
The basketball games are being rescheduled. Hockey will be more difficult as the Mariners may not have available dates open. JDHS did confirm January 18-19 games against Kodiak which will include senior night for the team.
“I know that Kelly (Smith, KTN girls coach/athletic director) is working really hard with Julie (Hermann, JDHS AD) to get these games rescheduled,” Garlick said. “We’ll try to hold them at a time that works best for everybody. If one kid gets hurt then it is like, 'Gosh, what did we do, you know?'”
Smith also noted safety is a priority.
“Usually we would try it, but the biggest call was just, you know, a disaster declaration,” Smith said. “You guys are looking for all the help you can to clear snow and things like that, and it's just a mess. And I saw how school was evacuated today, and I think they just made the call."
Mendenhall River Community School students and staff were taken to Thunder Mountain Middle School Thursday amid concerns about the snow load on the school's gym roof.
"We will be there, we are going to make it up," Smith said. "The kids love playing basketball, but they would have missed Fred Meyer probably and I might have missed my favorite place, Bowl Of Pho. But it is a terrible circumstance, we always want to fulfill all these games and we will definitely work with Julie and do whatever we need to do to make these games up. I just know for our administration it is hard to justify sending your kids to a disaster area when there is a lot going on and a really bad storm projected for tomorrow... We definitely want to be there, and you have the region tournament there and we love that relationship with JDHS… but just with the avalanche (threat) and flooding (potential) and all that stuff that the EOC (emergency operations center) really did a doom and gloom on yesterday that made our administration really think.”
Local officials in Juneau held a news conference Wednesday to discuss a recent disaster declaration, meant to clear the way for additional state help to deal with the recent heavy snow and its impacts, and a forecast that calls for heavy rain and potential flooding amid avalanche concerns.
The JDHS boys basketball team is scheduled to fly out Friday morning to Sitka for a weekend series against the Wolves and return Sunday. As of late Thursday evening those plans had not changed.
The Sitka Wolves played for the 3A state championship last season but lost to defending state champ Nome. Sitka graduated four players from that team but returned six seniors and three juniors, who all had impacts on the court. The Wolves are 5-1 this season with wins against Shelton (Washington) 56-44, Nikiski 73-13 and Mountain City Christian Academy 81-40 all at the recent Clarke Cochrane Christmas tournament in Ketchikan. The Wolves lost to Sheldon (Oregon) 54-49, defeated Toledo (Washington) 70-50 and defeated Soldotna 58-43.
“I don't know as much as I'd like with it being so early in the season and them being such a tough opponent,” JDHS boys' coach Robert Casperson said of Sitka. “They are well coached, and I have a lot of respect for what they've been doing with Sitka basketball over the past decade. It takes time to build, and it begins with youth programs teaching fundamentals. They've made a big push at that level, and they're seeing the rewards at the high school level… They may have graduated key players from last year's state runner-up, but the kids they have now are hungry to prove they belong. They played well at Clarke Cochrane and have a good mix of size and speed.”
The Sitka games are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and can be viewed on the NFHS network.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
