Juneau-Douglas High School hockey started Mid Alaska Conference play this weekend, splitting games with North Pole and dropping one to conference power West Valley during a four-game road stretch concluding Saturday night.
JDHS fell to North Pole 3-4 on Wednesday but turned around to beat the Patriots 3-1 on Thursday. West Valley, who knocked the Crimson Bears out of the state tournament last year, beat JDHS 5-1 on Friday. Results from Saturday’s game did not make Sunday’s print deadline and will be available in Tuesday’s print edition.
Between North Pole and West Valley is where the Crimson Bears expect to be: Juneau-Douglas beat North Pole in the first round of the state tournament last year and subsequently lost to West Valley in the conference title game.
Friday: JDHS 1, WV 5
A first period equalizer gave JDHS confidence in Friday’s match, but four second period goals from West Valley put the game out of reach for the Crimson Bears.
West Valley’s Kaden Monzingo, who had a hat trick in the game, scored first at the 11:44 mark. Juneau-Douglas’ Cameron Smith answered back with a goal just 20 seconds later off an assist from Bill Bosse and the teams carried the 1-1 score through to the second period.
Monzingo added a second goal five minutes into the second period to take the lead. West Valley would score three more in the second — one from Monzingo and two from Dylan Savereide — to close scoring 5-1.
JDHS goalkeeper Kyle Farley-Robinson stopped 20 shots in the game.
Thursday: JDHS 3, NP 1
JDHS forward Bill Bosse earned the Crimson Bears an early lead in their Thursday game, slotting in a goal just two minutes into the game off an assist by Jacob Dale. Junior defenseman Jaime Moreno gave JDHS a two-goal cushion at 4:19 in the first.
JDHS built a three-goal lead just two minutes into the second with a goal from senior Cahal Morehouse.
North Pole scored their lone goal with four minutes left in the second. Neither team scored in the third for a final tally of 3-1.
Wednesday: JDHS 3, NP 4
Wednesday’s game was the most exciting of the first three games of the road trip, with three lead changes keeping the game interesting.
North Pole scored first with four minutes left to go in the first period. JDHS answered with just 11.4 seconds to go in the first with a Jaime Moreno goal. JDHS would go scoreless in the second, allowing North Pole to take the lead with seven minutes to go in the period.
The final frame saw four goals, with Moreno scoring first for JDHS to briefly tie the game at 2-2. North Pole’s Jeff Doty retook the lead with a goal at 5:51.
North Pole extended their lead to 4-2 with less than a minute to go. JDHS held hope in the closing seconds as a goal from defensemen Niko Hebert in the last minute of the game trimmed North Pole’s lead to 1.
