After four years of waking up at the crack of dawn for Juneau-Douglas High School hockey practice, senior Kane Ginter wasn’t going to let a little throw up keep him from playing on senior night.
And so not long after hurling on the JDHS bench at the beginning of the third period Saturday against North Pole, Ginter returned to the ice — and scored a goal.
Flanked by Patriots defenders on either side of him, Ginter one-timed a puck from Cameron Smith midway through the period to score the final Crimson Bears’ goal in a 4-2 win at Treadwell Arena.
“When he left we told him if he feels better he can come back but I didn’t expect it,” JDHS head coach Luke Adams said. “But knowing Kane and the type of kid he is —not surprised at all. He’s just a workhorse and he’s done that for four years and it’s great to see a kid like that, a senior, go out with a big goal to help us out. It was huge.”
Ginter’s goal arrived approximately 34 minutes after JDHS’ previous goal in the game.
“I feel lucky that I was able to head back out,” Ginter said. “I’m thankful that that was a chance goal. I’m thankful that my teammate was able to get that to me. I also have to thank Cody (Mitchell) for providing a strong backbone in net just not letting much past.”
Both teams came out aggressive in the first period. Bill Bosse, Greyson Liebelt and Owen Squires scored in a two -minute span in that order early in the period.
But North Pole’s Cody Frarey and Jeff Doty scored on either side of Squires’ goal to keep the game close.
“When we’re down we lose momentum,” Doty said. “But once we got that goal and we got within that one goal, we saw hope.”
The Crimson Bears controlled the puck for the majority of the second period but couldn’t crack North Pole’s Moses Halbert. The Patriots played better defense in the third period when they only allowed half as many shots on net as the second period.
JDHS goaltender Cody Mitchell stopped 28 of 30 shots and Halbert stopped 28 of 32 pucks aimed at him.
JDHS heads to the MAC Playoffs in two weeks. They won’t know their first-round opponent until West Valley, Lathrop and North Pole wrap up conference play this week. After starting out 0-3 in conference games, the Crimson Bears have won its last three to give them a favorable shot at the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
“That’s all we can do,” Adams said. “That was our focus and our kids delivered so we’re proud of their efforts. Every single one of players was committed to what we were trying to do.”
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
