On the 20th of November 2014 West Anchorage High School Boys Hockey faced off against South high school at the Ben Boeke Ice Arena.
This was the first time the two teams met since the state championship last year where West fell 4-1 to South. Each team lost valuable seniors and got new goalies. South is coming off a recent 3-1 loss to Eagle River and West remains undefeated with a 4-0 record.
Both South and West have a lot of young talented players that can dictate a game. Both teams also have big goal scoring returners. West has Codie Cope and James Batman, but South has Payton McSharry and Danny Widmar.
West has more goals with only seven goals against. South has seven goals against as well going into the game but South has one more game played. West is averaging 5.75 goals a game by scoring 23 goals in four games. South, on the other hand, has only scored 15 goals in five games, averaging three goals a game.
West will be playing without their captain Dawson Ellingworth due to a game suspension given in the previous game. Dawson is averaging two points a game. When Chris Alexakis was asked how did he feel West is going to perform without their captain Dawson Ellingworth, he said, “we are missing our star player. I think him not being on the bench kills the mood. He brightens up the mood making the team play better, plus he scores all of our goals.”
Well West could have used a goal Thursday night. “I think that Jeremy Swayman will out play any goaltender he goes against,” said Bryson Schmitz. Even with 38 shots West could not put one past Swayman. South struck first with a power play goal from Schmitz with 6:52 left in the first period. The score would remain 1-0 until halfway through the third period. Schmitz scored again but this time on a penalty kill and a breakaway. South scored two goals in 69 seconds. South’s third goal came from John Matson with 4:24 left in the game. West rallied back throwing everything at Swayman but he continued to shut West out. The final would be 3-0 South over West, which will leave no team in the Cook Inlet Conference undefeated. “The better team did not win that game. The scoreboard does not show how well we played,” said West coach Nathan Shasby
West and South will face off again on January 13th for their final time in CIC play. West will be getting back from Fairbanks on the 10th, just three days before their next game. The last time West has beaten South in hockey was in 2010 when West won state. West coach Nathan Shasby has never beaten South. South is the only team in CIC that Shasby hasn’t beaten while coaching.
When captain James Batman was asked how did he think the next game will play out between West and South he said, “I think that by the next time we play South, our team will get a lot better, our team chemistry will improve, and our after school workouts will pay off by beating them in January. The last time we played them, we were missing key players, and we weren’t prepared for the game, so next time, we’ll have all our players, and we’ll be more prepared for the game. So I think South better get ready to be beat the next time we play them.”