Hockey

The Anchorage School District has dropped girls' hockey beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, with Anchorage School Board President Jeannie Mackie saying declining participation was responsible for the move. Girls' hockey has existed under a waiver basis from the Alaska Schools Activities Association since being included as a program about eight years ago. In each season, teams consisted of two schools combining for one roster. Outside of Anchorage, a composite of Mat-Su Valley girls hockey players and a group from Fairbanks also combine to function as one team at the high-school level.

The Dimond hockey team, 2-0-0 in Cook Inlet Conference play this season, took a step out of conference on Friday night. The Lynx showed no signs of a let-up against Interior foe West Valley, defeating the Wolfpack 8-2. Tyler Thompson buried a pair of goals to lead Dimond. Shilo Vega also enjoyed a productive night, with a goal and two assists. West Valley, now 1-1 on its trip to Anchorage, takes on Service Saturday afternoon. Contact Kevin Wells at kwells@ktuu.com

The Alaska Avalanche were at home Wednesday night, looking to win two straight games over West Division leaders the Wenatchee Wild. Brandon  Brossoit beat Wenatchee’s goalie in a race to the puck, scoring to put Alaska ahead 1-0 after the first period. The Avalanche sank a second puck in the second period, hanging on to win 2-1. Contact Kevin Wells at kwells@ktuu.com

Zach Aregood snapped a 2-2 tie with 4:45 remaining in the third period to lift the South High hockey team to a 4-2 victory over rival Service Thursday night in Cook Inlet Conference play. Things were looking up for the Cougars, who never led, when Jeremy Smith scored on the power play early in the third period to knot the score at two. Henry Yawit scored Service's other goal. Patrick Taylor and Daniel Sandstrom buried South's other two defended tallies. The Wolverines added an empty net goal for the final margin.

In high-school hockey action Saturday night, Dimond edged out South 2-1 to finish the year unblemished, while Chugiak topped Service 3-1. The Cook Inlet Conference tournament is set to begin next week. Contact Charlie Sokaitis at csokaitis@ktuu.com

Dimond High School and West battled against the boards of the Ben Boeke Ice Arena Saturday night, as the Lynx quickly scoring against the Eagles. In the first period, Dimond’s Tyler Thompson cruised up the ice and laid the puck off to Shilo Vega for an assist and a 1-0 lead, which ultimately became a 4-0 shutout against West. Contact Charlie Sokaitis at csokaitis@ktuu.com

It was an off-season of change for the West High hockey team. The Eagles, who won the 2010 state title, lost several key players to graduation and also brought in a new coaching staff. The Eagles began their title defense on Wednesday night with a 3-1 victory over Bartlett, one of the weakest teams in the Cook Inlet Conference last season. The Golden Bears actually took a 1-0 lead on Samuel Henderson's goal 2:11 into the second period. The Eagles quickly answered, but Golden Bears goaltender William Andariese kept his team in the game, stopping 36 shots, including a breakaway attempt by Max Osgood late in the second period.

UAA junior Andrew Pickering has announced his retirement from hockey, due to health concerns. A statement realeased by head coach Dave Shyiak said Pickering had suffered two concussions in the past two months, prompting him to leave hockey and focus on his health and studies. Pickering was a WCHA All-Academic team honoree, and a member of last year's WCHA Scholar-Athlete team.  

The Alaska Anchorage hockey team lost game two 7-3 in the 1st round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association First Round Playoffs Saturday Night. The Seawolves used three power-play goals in the second period for a 3-1 lead. That advance was quickly stomped on by the Gophers offense, who rallied six unanswered goals, two in the second and four in the third, to end UAA's 2011-12 campaign with the first round sweep. The Seawolves will say goodbye to seniors Brad Gorham, Curtis Leinweber, Jade Portwood and Dusan Sidor.

University of Alaska Anchorage hockey coach Dave Shyiak has talked about stringing wins together during the break, and his team had a chance to do so Saturday in a rematch against Colorado College. A Seawolves power play was hugely successful in Friday’s game against Colorado -- and it worked again Saturday, as Tommy Grant threw a saucer pass over to Craig Parkinson to draw first blood for UAA. That 1-0 lead would hold until 20 seconds into the third period, when the Seawolves’ Curtis Leinweber fired off a shot and Alex Gellert stuffed it home, giving UAA a two-goal cushion.

The new search committee selected to help hire a UAA hockey coach will be hosting a meeting to begin the application review process on Monday, May 20 at 7 p.m. in the UAA/APU Consortium Library, Room 307. The committee has invited fans to attend the session at 7 p.m. for a review of the new selection process, followed by an open comment period.  UAA says the committee will then enter executive session to discuss the current applicants and decide...

As anticipated, the UAA Hockey Alumni have officially added a vote of "No Confidence" in Athletic Director Dr. Steve Cobb.  The motion follows a similar decision made by the Alaska State Hockey Association over the weekend.  Both organizations cite general apathy and indifference towards the hockey program over the years and were not satisfied over the process used to select the finalists for the next head coach. The official text of the resolution can be read here.  

The Anchorage School District has dropped girls' hockey beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, with Anchorage School Board President Jeannie Mackie saying declining participation was responsible for the move. Girls' hockey has existed under a waiver basis from the Alaska Schools Activities Association since being included as a program about eight years ago. In each season, teams consisted of two schools combining for one roster. Outside of Anchorage, a composite of Mat-Su Valley girls hockey players and a group from Fairbanks also combine to function as one team at the high-school level.

This weekend, as the University of Alaska Anchorage prepares to interview four candidates for the position of hockey coach, the Alaska State Hockey Association has issued a vote of no confidence in the school's Athletic Director, Dr. Steve Cobb.  The motion accuses Dr. Cobb of poor leadership and alleges an overall disconnect between the University and the overall Anchorage hockey community. The complete statement from the Alaska State Hockey Association can be read here .  

UAA has set aside dates and times for its four UAA hockey coach finalists to meet with the public.  All four events will be held at the Lucy Cuddy Dining Room on the UAA campus.  During each visit, the candidates will be interviewed and then be made available between 7:00 and 7:30pm. Monday, April 22 - Michael Corbett Wednesday, April 24 - Damon Whitten Monday, April 29 - Chris Brown Wednesday, May 1 - Gary Heenan  

The University of Alaska Anchorage has narrowed its search for a hockey coach down to four finalists.  There are Chris Brown, Michael Corbett, Gary Heenan, and Damon Whitten.  The new coach will replace Dave Shyiak, who was fired on March 29th following a 4-25-7 season. Brown served as a UAA assistant coach from 1997 to 2000 and since then has been the head coach at Division III schools Marian College ( 2000-2004 ) and Augsburg College ( 2006-present ). Corbett has spent the last 10 years with the Air Force Academy, as assistant coach from 2003 until 2012 until this past season, when he was named associate head coach.

The Under 14 Alaska Girls All-Stars captured the national title in Tier II youth hockey on Sunday, defeating the Connecticut Ice Cats, 2-0 in the finals in San Jose, California.  The All-Stars finish the tournament 6-0-0. Kirsten Watts scored twice for the Alaskans, including an unassisted strike to set the tone at 2:24 of the first period.  Her second goal, assisted by Estee Frantz, came at the 4:39 mark of the third period.  Vandalyn Hudson made 13 saves for the shutout victory.

On Monday, a Mat-Su hockey coach pleaded not guilty to several felony felonies, including theft and forgery. James Donald "Jamie" Smith Jr. is accused of using money earned from charitable gaming permits to fund the Alaska Avalanche Hockey Club, his own for-profit venture. He made his first court appearance at the Palmer Superior Court. Smith used more than $48,000 after allegedly forging signatures and documents, dating back to 2008 when he was managing a junior league hockey team booster club.

Mat-Su Valley hockey coach and teacher James Smith made his first court appearance Monday. Smith plead not guilty to five felonies.  The charges include one count of theft in the first degree, one scheme to defraud, one count of fraudulent use of an access device and two counts of forgery in the second degree. The alleged offences occurred back to 2008 when Smith was handling funds for a junior league hockey team. The State of Alaska says that Smith forged signatures and documents for charitable gaming permits.

Already thin due to injuries, UAA could ill afford to have a player ejected from its first round WCHA playoff series opener on Friday against St. Cloud State.  However, that scenario played out and the result was a 6-1 loss to the conference regular season champions.  With the score tied 1-1 midway through the first period, UAA's Ben Matthews took a five minute major penalty for checking from behind and also picked up a game miscounduct.  The...