high school hockey Nov. 11 VS Hutchison Career Center

North Pole hockey drops a dozen on Hutchison
By Matias Saari

Published Wednesday, November 12, 2008


Photo by Sam Harrel

Photo by Sam Harrel
FAIRBANKS — Nick Crutcher of North Pole High School scored on a rebound 20 seconds into Tuesday night’s hockey game against Hutchison, then showed no reaction.

Teammate Hank Parra put in a wrister 22 seconds later at the Big Dipper Ice Arena, again without celebration.

And so it went for the Patriots, who scored almost at will against the overmatched Hawks but showed little emotion — other than an occasional smile — in the 12-0 nonconference drubbing of their Class 3A opponent.

“We didn’t celebrate because we just didn’t want to make the team feel any (worse) because we were already wiping them out on the scoreboard,” said Crutcher, a senior forward who led the way with three goals and an assist.

The game was still a challenge for the Class 4A Patriots, who wanted to limit their mistakes and keep playing hard while displaying good sportsmanship.

“It’s hard because even though we’re winning, we gotta keep our heads in it and not make stupid mistakes, like get penalties,” Crutcher said.

Added North Pole assistant coach Derek Linnell: “The little mistakes we’re making, when we play the big schools from Anchorage (and) Lathrop, they’re going to kill us. If we do that against those teams, the puck’s going to be in the net.”

But on Tuesday, the puck landed in Hutchison’s net four times in the first period, seven times (all in a seven-minute span) in the second period and once in the third.

“You don’t want to pull the reins on the kids, but you can’t tell them not to play hard,” Linnell said.

Eight Patriots scored goals while five others added at least an assist.

Leading the way were Crutcher, captain Matt Sanford (a goal and three assists), DJ Carnley and Parra (each with two goals and an assist) and freshman Tyler Keturi (three assists).
Junior goaltender Phoenix Copley made eight saves, preserving the shutout with five minutes remaining by making a pad save on a penalty shot from Hutch junior Drew Baggen.

After getting hauled down on a breakaway, the diminutive Baggen perhaps showed his frustration by getting in a shoving match with North Pole senior Cody Kurkowski, resulting in four-minute roughing penalties for each player. Baggen was permitted to take the penalty shot before heading to the sin bin.

Despite the lopsided score, Hutchison first-year coach Dave Teets remained optimistic. He called playing 4A competition “a whole different league.”

“We wanted everybody to stay positive and build on the good things we did, and we had some good shifts where we played really well,” Teets said. “We had other shifts where we fell apart real quick.”

The Hawks have 10 underclassmen but expect to be a contender in the Greatland Conference this season.

“There were some things we did in today’s game that if we do in our conference, we’re going to be very successful,” Teets said.