daily news miner article from the game

West Valley skaters stun North Pole
By Danny Martin

Published Saturday, February 7, 2009

NORTH POLE — West Valley went from an underdog in the Mid Alaska Conference high school hockey tournament on Friday night to a team bound for the state tournament.

After a 3-5 conference and 9-10 overall finish in the regular season, there weren’t many expectations that the third-seeded Wolfpack would be playing at the Polar Ice Center in tonight’s championship game against the top- seeded Lathrop Malemutes.

There also weren’t expectations on Friday that West Valley would get 13 power-play chances against tournament host and second-seeded North Pole, or that Ben Henne would score on three of them, or that Tyler Bolles would provide the game-winner in the 4-3 triumph with the puck bouncing off a Patriots defender’s stick.

“That’s the joy of being the underdog and winning — everybody loves an upset,” Henne, a junior left wing, said with a huge smile outside of the Wolfpack’s lockerroom after his team overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period.

There was anything but joy next door in the lockerroom of the Patriots, whose 6-2 conference and 15-5 overall record in the regular season included two victories over the Wolfpack. However, it’s the Wolfpack rather than Patriots who are playing at 6:45 tonight against Lathrop, a 7-0 winner over the fourth-seeded Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears later Friday night.

“It’s pretty quiet,” North Pole assistant coach Derek Linnell said of the postgame atmosphere in the Patriots’ lockerroom. “A few kids are really upset. I don’t know if they all were but they should have been, because us coaches were pretty upset.”

The winner of tonight’s game will be the MAC’s top seed for the Class 4A State Tournament, while the loser will be the second seed for the tournament in Wasilla on Thursday through Saturday.

Dylan Longoria scored twice for the Patriots, including the only score of the first period. The junior center battled through a Wolfpack defender’s check in the slot and slipped a backhand past West Valley goaltender Cacy Wilfer into the left corner of the net.

“I got a good hand on it from a good pass from Matt Sanford, he had a solid game today,” Longoria said of Sanford, who had a goal and an assist in the game. “Cody (Kurkowski) gave him a good pass to get up to me and I just finished it off for him.”

North Pole, though, had five penalties for 10 minutes in the first period, compared a single minor West Valley. It proved to be a sign of things to come.

North Pole was assessed 15 penalties for 40 minutes to West Valley’s seven for 14 minutes. Among the Wolfpack’s 13 power plays were four two-man advantage sessions, and Henne capitalized twice on the 5-on-3 situations. North Pole finished 1-for-7 on the power play, with Sanford doing the honor in the second period.

“A positive-negative about all those power plays,” said West Valley head coach Wayne Sawchuk, “is sometimes you gas your top-end players and if you get nothing for it and it’s kind of hard to fall back on. But, obviously, I’m very excited for our guys and I’m very proud of our guys tonight.”

Henne tied the game at 1 during a two-man advantage at 10:20 of the second period, beating Patriots goalie Phoenix Copley at the right side of the crease with a centering pass from Dylan Blankenship, who finished with three assists.

Sanford, parked in the right circle, redirected in DJ Carnley’s pass from the left circle at 13:51 of the second for 2-1 Patriots lead.

Longoria banged in a rebound of Vance Bridgman’s shot from the slot at 2:29 of the third for a 3-1 Patriots lead before Henne used only a span of 59 seconds to rally the Wolfpack to a 3-3 deadlock.

On a 5-on-3 scenario at 6:01, he scored from the slot with Bolles’ pass from near the left point, and he added the game-tying goal from the right side of the crease at 7:00 of the third.

“He’s been our go-to guy all season and we need Benny to have success for us to have success,” Sawchuk said.

Bolles was looking to pass to linemate Patrick Evans when his delivery deflected off a Patriot’s stick and snuck past Copley at 9:05.

Copley, who had 20 saves to Wilfer’s 23, was pulled for an extra attacker with a minute left in the game, but West Valley persevered.

Lathrop triumphs

Tayler Munson scored a hat trick to give him 101 career points as a sophomore, and Brooks Poe and Alec Hajdukovich had two goals apiece to guide the Malemutes into tonight’s final.

“We’ve got to show up to that game, we’ve got to be ready to go,” Lathrop head coach Shawn Lundgren said of the championship game against West Valley.

Lundgren said that he reminded his players that two years ago Lathrop won the regular-season title but lost to West Valley in the tournament final. The Malemutes came into this year’s tournament with an 8-0 MAC and 20-2 overall record.

Lathrop goalie Taylor Evans stopped seven shots for the shutout and Garrett Cheeseman and Matt Noreen combined for 39 saves for the Crimson Bears, who ended the season at 14-10 overall.

They lost 3-4 :(

Go North Pole!!!!

FAIRBANKS — State hockey championship berths are up for grabs at the Mid Alaska Conference tournament beginning today at the Polar Ice Center in North Pole.

In the four-team, single-elimination tournament, the top two teams will earn a trip to Wasilla to compete for the state title. The MAC tourney champion will receive a higher seed at state.

The first puck drops at 5 tonight as the North Pole Patriots face the West Valley Wolfpack. At 7:30 p.m., the Lathrop Malemutes will take on the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears.

The championship game will begin at 6:45 p.m. Saturday.

Lathrop

Toting an unblemished conference record, the top-seeded Malemutes (20-2, 8-0 MAC) enter the tournament as the undeniable favorite.

But Lathrop coach Shawn Lundgren is leaving the team’s regular-season MAC championship in the past, referring to the postseason as the “second season.”

“We’re happy with the first season, but we realize it’s a new season,” he said.

Lathrop’s biggest challenge could be rust, since Lathrop has not played since a Jan. 27 win over North Pole.

Lundgren said he gave the team four days of rest before implementing practices with game-like situations to keep the Malemutes on their toes.

The Malemutes will be without forwards Kyle Olson, who recently had surgery to repair torn ligaments in his ankle, and Alex Timchack, who suffered a broken collarbone against Dimond on Jan. 24. Lundgren said he’s confident the Malemutes’ younger players can fill the void left by the injured forwards.

North Pole

As the only other team above .500 in conference play, second-seed North Pole is the most likely team to challenge Lathrop for the tournament crown.

The Patriots (15-5, 6-2 MAC) first must take on West Valley, whom North Pole defeated twice, 5-1 and 7-2, in the regular season.

North Pole center Jared Linnell, who’s amassed the most points for the Patriots with 53, said his team is wary of a hungry Wolfpack.

“Everybody wants to go against Lathrop, but we’ve go to get through West Valley first,” Linnell said. “... They’re going to be ready for us.”

Junior Phoenix Copley has backstopped every game for North Pole this season, compiling a 2.05 goals against average and an .890 saves percentage.

West Valley

The Wolfpack have a losing record (3-4, 9-10 MAC), but they have shown they can hang with the conference top dog.

West Valley nearly forced Lathrop into overtime before a last-second shot spoiled their upset bid in a 3-2 loss Jan. 13.

Wolfpack coach Wayne Sawchuk said that although West Valley hasn’t defeated North Pole or the Malemutes, his team is capable.

“That’s why they play the game, because upsets can happen,” Sawchuk said. “... We’ve got a young team and the emotions run high and low. We need to keep it high this weekend.”

Great article about Tylers friend and team mate Hank Parra

Patriots’ Parra lets his play do the talking
By Joshua Armstrong

Published Thursday, February 5, 2009


Photo by Sam Harrel
North Pole left wing Hank Parra doesn’t say much.

Then again, he doesn’t have to.

The sophomore is the kind of player Patriots hockey coach Jason Storey calls a “throwback” — he hits and works hard while scarcely saying a word.

“I don’t think he’s intimidating. His play is, and that speaks for him,” Storey said. “He’s a little bit old school. I like that.”

The coach wasn’t always impressed by Parra’s lack of gab. At first, it caused him a bit of concern.

Parra and his longtime friend, center Jared Linnell, spoke so rarely during their freshman season that Storey called their parents to make sure they were having fun.

“They hadn’t said 12 words all season,” Storey said, laughing.

One year later, the 15-year-old Parra is enjoying quiet success on the ice for the 15-5 Patriots, who open the Mid Alaska Conference Tournament against West Valley on Friday at the Polar Ice Center.

“He goes to the net hard, and he backchecks well,” Storey said. “He goes to all the ugly places in the hockey rink, and he does it with no problems.”

Those “ugly” places are the corners and in front of the opposing net — where taking a hard hit is almost mandatory.

That’s when being 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds comes in handy.

“He’s a monster,” Storey said. “... He’s got a man’s body at 15 years old — and boy, is he strong.”

Parra’s size and work ethic make him a crucial part of a line that’s produced more than 40 percent of North Pole’s offense.

With junior right wing DJ Carnley and Linnell, Parra’s line has accumulated 60 goals and 82 assists for 142 points this season.

As the team’s top two point-scorers, Linnell has found the inside of the net 16 times and assisted 37 scores while Carnley has 22 goals and 29 helpers.

But Parra’s focus isn’t on numbers. In fact, he said his best performance this season was in a 5-4 loss to Dimond on Jan. 23 in which he had a goal and an assist.

That attitude hasn’t prevented Parra from making an impact on the score sheet. He has 38 goals off 22 points and 16 assists this season.

He enters this weekend’s MAC tournament coming off back-to-back two-goal efforts in shutout wins over Juneau-Douglas on Friday and Saturday.

Multiple-goal nights are not uncommon for Parra, who has two hat tricks and six two-goal games this season.

He had his best statistical performance with three goals and three assists in a 15-3 win at conference rival Houston on Jan. 8.

Parra, though, would rather be entrenched in a low-scoring affair.

“I prefer the intense games where you hit a lot,” he sad. “The high-scoring games, they’re a lot of fun, but they’re not intense.”

Linnell, who has played alongside Parra since the Squirt level, said their familiarity is an advantage.

He’s confident that Parra will make a play on any puck he dumps into the corner and will deflect in any puck he sends in front of the net.

Because Linnell and Parra have been teammates for so long, Jared’s father, North Pole assistant coach Derek Linnell, has watched the left wing refine his skills.

In the past few years, the elder Linnell said, Parra’s bloomed from a “crash-bang third-liner” to someone who can effectively complement skill players.

Though there may be more finesse to his game, Parra’s scoring style remains blunt.

“He gets in front of the net, and no one can knock him down,” Derek Linnell said.

Parra, who also plays on North Pole’s baseball team, said he doesn’t know if he’ll return to the Patriots next year or play on a club team.

But no matter the team, he will be on the ice. Hockey has almost always been a part of his life.

“I’ve been playing hockey since I could walk,” he said.

That’s an exaggeration, but not by much.

His father taught him how to skate on Lake Harding at the age of 3, and he joined his first organized team — the Squirt-level Ice Puppies — at 5.

If a career in hockey is possible, he wants to pursue it.

Parra has a roughly outlined plan — he’d like to play for the Fairbanks Ice Dogs before heading to college to pursue a degree in sports therapy. Like any young man’s plans, though, they are subject to change.

A career in public speaking, however, is unlikely.

North Pole Patriots

First Born

First Born...

Here you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself! Tag 10 mommies when you're finished.Let's see how much you remember!
1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? No....No really planned, but not doing anything to prevent it either.
2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? yes.
3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? My reactions were very, very happy, not so much for Troy...he has since taken on the Dad role very well.
4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? Never
5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 26
6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? I felt all the signs...and walked to the store which was right next to where I worked and bought a test.
7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? a co-worker then Troy over the phone
8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? I did, Troy didnt. I found out but never told him
9. DUE DATE? August 5
10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Not at all.
11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Mexican food, fruit and vegies...not milk. And I ate a lot of fried egg sandwiches!
12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? I dont remember anything irrating me, I loved being pregnant
13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? Male
14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? No way!
15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? I think around 40.
16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes, at work and one at my parents house too.
17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? The one at work was a surprise.
18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? No.
19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? FMH
20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? about 40 before they did a C-section
21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Troy
22. WHO WAS WITH YOU WHEN YOU GIVE BIRTH? Derek
23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? C section..emergency since we were both have slow heart rates and trouble breathing
24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Yes,
27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? He weighed in at 8 lbs, 2 ou.
28. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? August 19 2 weeks late
30. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Tyler Scott
31. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY 6 months shy of 16 years old.

Cam brushing his teeth