West Valley’s Dylan Savereide scored the game-winning goal with under three minutes to play Friday to stifle Juneau-Douglas High School’s comeback effort in a 3-2 home loss to the Wolfpack at Treadwell Arena.
The JDHS (1-3, 0-2 MAC) goaltending was terrific, but the Crimson Bears put West Valley (7-1, 2-0 MAC) on the power play on seven different occasions in the second and third periods.
After the Crimson Bears’ successfully killed off tripping and roughing penalties in the third, Savereide scored with at 12:34 on the power play, lifting the spirits and voices of his team.
“It’s always a tough place to come down and play in Juneau,” West Valley head coach Wayne Sawchuk said. “The Juneau kids work really hard, (JDHS head coach) Luke (Adams) has them playing well, so it was a big goal for us at the right time.”
The Wolfpack’s Friday win extends its winning streak to five games dating back to Nov. 10. West Valley skated to a 6-2 victory over JDHS on a rare Thursday night home game.
JDHS’ Mitchell turned away 36 of 39 shots, stopping all 10 shots in the first period before letting in two in the second and one in the third.
“He stood on his head for us today for sure,” JDHS head coach Luke Adams said. “And we’re going to need that, especially against a team like West Valley that’s got a lot of control and speed. And not just Cody, everybody rallied around his performance and just kept up in their game.”
After out shooting the Crimson Bears 10-6 in the first period, West Valley took a tighter grip on the game in the second. Mitchell made 15 saves in the second period alone. Anton Ruppert maneuvered around a defenseman and lifted the puck past Mitchell at 9:27 for the first goal of the game.
Braden Ray followed up Ruppert’s goal with another West Valley score at 12:16 in the second. The compact defenseman fired a slap shot from the blueline that scooted past a number of skates on its way into the net.
Just over a minute later though, JDHS’ Jacob Dale scored his first of two goals of the game to make it 2-1.
Dale tied the game in the third period on a loose puck in front of the net.
Adams is encouraged by his team’s demeanor thus far in the season.
“They out shot us by a lot and throughout the whole game our kids just kept battling back,” Adams said. “They never threw in the towel. It would have been really easy to take a shift or two off.”
Up next
The team embarks on its first road trip of the season this week. JDHS and seven other teams will play in the Big Lake Lions Christmas Classic Dec. 7-9 at the Big Lake Lions Recreation Center in Houston. JDHS will then play in one last home series before the Christmas break. The Crimson Bears welcome the Colony Knights for a pair of non conference game Dec. 15-16.
Injury woes
JDHS skated this weekend without junior Cully Corrigan, one of the six Crimson Bears’ goal scorers in the Nov. 17-18 home series with Kenai Central. On Friday night, defenseman Chance Turinsky and forward Erik Genitz left the game with injuries.
Friday statewide scores
Wasilla 6, SoHi 2
West 4, Lathrop 2
North Pole 1, Service 8
Tri Valley 0, Houston 12
Colony 1, Homer 2 (OT)
Palmer 6, Kenai 2
Friday game summary
West Valley 0 2 1 — 3
JDHS 0 1 1 — 2
Second period — 1. West Valley, Ruppert (Beckley), PP, 9:27; 2. West Valley, Ray (Victorino, Sadler), 12:16; 3. JDHS, Dale (Liebelt, Monsef), 13:33.
Third period — 4. JDHS, Dale (Squires, Monsef), 9:57; 6. West Valley, Savereide (Baxter), 12:34.
Shots on goal — West Valley 10-17-12—39; JDHS 6-4-2—12.
Goaltending — West Valley, Atkinson (12 shots, 10 saves); JDHS, Mitchell (36 shots, 39 saves).
Penalties — West Valley 4 for 16:00; JDHS 7 for 14:00.
Thursday game summary
West Valley 2 1 3 — 6
JDHS 0 1 1 — 2
First period — 1. West Valley, Savereide (Rogers), 6:24; 2. West Valley, Sadler (Ray), 13:17.
Second period — 3. JDHS, Bosse, PS, 11:30; 4. West Valley, Baxter (Ruppert, Rogers), PP, 13:11.
Third period — 5. West Valley, Kimbrough (Savereide), SH, 7:15; 6. West Valley, Beckley (un.), 10:13; 7. West Valley, Ruppert (Savereide, Kimbrough), 12:46; 8. JDHS, Dale (Bosse), 13:43.
Shots on goal — West Valley 8-15-9— 32; JDHS 2-5-8—15
Goaltending — West Valley, Atkinson (15 shots, 13 saves); JDHS, Mitchell (29 shots, 24 saves); JDHS, Dostal (3 shots, 2 saves).
Penalties — West Valley 5 for 10:00; JDHS 3 for 6:00.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Juneau-Douglas’ Erik Genitz takes the puck from West Valley’s Joe Kimbrough, left, at Treadwell Arena on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
