wahoo North Pole!!!!

North Pole dominant in its first conference win
By Danny Martin

Published Wednesday, December 10, 2008


Photo by Sam Harrel
NORTH POLE — The second period Tuesday night at the Polar Ice Arena provided an excellent example of North Pole’s depth and work ethic.

The Patriots, on the way to a 6-1 victory over the West Valley Wolfpack in the Mid Alaska Conference high school hockey game, were outshot 13-5 in the second, but scored four goals while being short two players.

Defenseman Seth Haines and center Nick Crutcher were serving 10-minute misconducts along with their checking-from-behind minors in the period. Haines, who produced the game’s first goal with a slap shot at 44 seconds into the contest, is also one of only four defensemen among 18 Patriots players.

North Pole, though, adjusted to help it improve to 7-2 overall and 1-0 conference.

“We rotated three defensemen, and they all stepped up,” North Pole assistant coach Derek Linnell said of the second period. “We had two really good (forward) lines and our third line is solid, and we had a couple of extra guys on the bench that could step right in and fill spots for us. We have great depth.”

Included in that depth is right wing D.J. Carnley, who scored a hat trick Tuesday, and goaltender Phoenix Copley, who denied 35 shots by the Wolfpack.

Carnley’s second three-goal night of the season started at 6:46 of the first period and gave North Pole a 2-0 lead. He lined a low shot from the right circle and the attempt had enough power to squeeze between the post and the glove-side pad of West Valley goaltender Cacy Wilfer.

“I was just getting shots on net, crashing the net. ... That was my game plan,” said the 6-foot-3, 200-pound junior.

Carnley has built a chemistry this season with sophomore linemates Jared Linnell (center) and Hank Parra (left wing), who already had a chemistry from their years of playing youth hockey together. Linnell also chipped in two assists Tuesday.

“It’s a good line. We all work hard and we help each other out,” Carnley said.

North Pole helped itself to 6-0 lead in the second period after generating its final four goals of the game, with three of them arriving within 47 seconds late in the period.

The surge began by the Patriots capitalizing on a two-man advantage. Mark Sanford got his second point of the night by redirecting in Vance Bridgman’s shot from the right circle at 13:29 and 19 seconds later, Carnley made it 5-0 with an unassisted backhand shortly after a faceoff in the Wolfpack’s zone. Bridgman, with his second point of the period and third of the game, completed the flurry with a goal at 14:16 of the period.

Carnley had given North Pole a 3-0 lead at 4:54 of the second, scoring in front of the crease with a redirection of Linnell’s pass.

It seemed the second period, particularly because of its advantage in shots and gaining two power-play chances, should have been an opportunistic 20 minutes for West Valley rather than a stanza which they ended in a six-goal hole.

“We had our chances, we didn’t bury them,” West Valley head coach Wayne Sawchuk said. “I’m sure Cacy has a few of their shots that he’d like to have back. I know that wasn’t the best game he’s played all year, and he’d be one of the first ones to admit that.

“Their goalie made the big saves when he had to. If we could have scored a couple, who knows what could have happened.”

Wilfer, following a 13-save night, was replaced in the third period by fellow junior Katrina Lydon, who had 12 saves for a Wolfpack squad that seemed more energetic than in the first two periods.

A second-intermission speech by Sawchuk helped the Wolfpack deny Copley of a shutout in the third period.

Johnny McGee, during West Valley’s fifth and final power play, stationed himself near the left post to redirect in Benny Henne’s shot from the left circle at 11:38 of the third.

“We talked about what it’s like to be a hockey player, and it’s a privilege to be a hockey player,’’ said Sawchuk, “because one day, those skates are going to be gone. We have to compete because we’ve only got 22 high school games per year and this is one of those games.

“You’ve just got to go out and compete and be a hockey player.”

Justin Woods had the other assist on the Wolfpack’s lone tally and North Pole had other helpers in the game from Tyler Keturi and Cody Kurkowski.