The Rewind: West shines in regional hockey and skiing; UAF hockey wins 14th straight Governor’s Cup series

Welcome to The Rewind, a weekly digest that puts a spotlight on the biggest stories and best performances from Alaska’s world of sports.

This past week featured several notable individual and team performances across the Alaska sports landscape at the high school, collegiate and professional levels. The 2024 high school basketball season saw the two-time defending boys state champions at the 4A level record a milestone win for its head coach and there were some explosive individual scoring outings. The first week of the postseason for prep hockey got underway for the boys and girls and saw two champions crowned. On the college scene, the University of Alaska Anchorage women’s basketball team stayed hot against in-state rivals while the hockey team came up short in a thriller. Outside the state, several Alaskans had impressive performances and career achievements worth recognizing and celebrating.

Headlines and highlights

The postseason for winter sports got underway last week with regional action, and in the hockey rink, defending Division I state champion West continued its domination of the Cook Inlet Conference by outscoring its two opponents in the Region IV tournament a combined 8-0. The Eagles shut out Eagle River 6-0 in the semifinals on Friday. West did the same to longtime rival Chugiak in a 2-0 win in the final, where they went a perfect 9 of 9 on penalty kills. After getting upset by South in last year’s regional tournament, they are glad to be heading to this week’s state tournament on a much higher note.

“It’s great to be back and win it for West High,” head coach Rob Larkey said. “Our kids deserve it. They played really hard, we were shorthanded for most of the night, we blocked a lot of shots, we went through the adversity of having guys down and coming together. It was a really great experience for us.”

[West shuts out Chugiak 2-0 to claim Region IV hockey title]

After watching Fairbanks jump out to an early 2-0 lead, the Dimond-West girls hockey team was able to rally and successfully defend its title for a third straight year with a 3-2 victory Saturday afternoon. The game-winning goal came from Avery Keim with just 1 minute, 34 seconds left to play.

“That was a heck of a game,” Dimond-West head coach Brian Gross said. “We’re very excited. You couldn’t have asked for a better championship game.”

[Dimond-West girls hockey wins 4th straight state title, in comeback fashion]

Down on the Kenai Peninsula, the Division II state championship tournament took place and saw Palmer finally get over the hump. The Moose emerged victorious 9-1 over hosting Soldotna in the finals to end the season on a seven-game heater to claim the program’s first state title since 2019.

Elsewhere in town this past weekend, the Region IV cross-country skiing championships took place at Kincaid Park and saw a pair of skiers lead their respective teams to victories as well as collect impressive individual wins and honors. West senior Greta Bochenek won Friday’s interval 7.5K skate race, helped lead the Eagles girls A relay team to a first-place finish and was named Skimeister. South junior Vebjorn Flagstad accomplished all of the same feats in the boys division, and the Wolverines finished with the top mark in the team scores as well.

“Our team did great too,” Flagstad said Friday. “We were stacking the results and had a bunch of guys in the top 15. Our guys are just getting me better.”

[First-time winner, defending champ claim titles on first day of skiing regionals in Anchorage]

In prep hoops action, two of the top young talents in the state faced off for the second time this season when the Bartlett girls hosted Service in a CIC clash Friday night. Star freshman Kennedi Gaines helped the Golden Bears rally from being down by eight points early in the fourth quarter to sensational sophomore Aryanna Watson and the Cougars. Both players had 20 points at halftime but after recording just four free throws in the third quarter, Gaines erupted offensively with 17 points and helped put the clamps on defensively in the fourth. She finished with 41 points, her second-highest, single-game total of the season, and Bartlett came out on top 67-54 for a ninth straight victory. Watson finished with 29 points that included six 3-pointers.

“We got down a little bit but we got there as a team. We kept our heads up, and we were doing it all for our coach,” Gaines said. “I love Ary; she’s a great guard and I love playing against her. She pushes me to be better.”

On the boys side, two-time defending 4A state champion Bettye Davis East Anchorage extended its winning streak over in-state opponents dating back to the 2022-23 season to 44 straight with a pair of victories this past weekend in Fairbanks. The Thunderbirds' toughest game came against host West Valley on Friday night and saw them grind out a 43-41 victory. In doing so, they notched the 500th career victory for head coach Chuck Martin, who has been a staple in the Alaska basketball community for several decades, both in Anchorage and the Mat-Su.

“It does mean I’m getting old, and I’ve coached a lot of good players,” he said in a statement. “I’m really just thankful that I have been able to be involved in this game for so long and may get to do it for a few more years. The Lord has been very good to me and He has given me all that I have. I really value and appreciate the lasting and deep relationships I have with former players and people whose paths I have crossed because of my profession. Many have contacted me the last few days because they were all part of the 500.

“When someone gets recognition for something like this rarely are the most important people mentioned. My wife and kids have been such a big part of my success and in no way could I have done it without them. I was lucky enough to be able to coach both my son and son-in-law in my career. The wins and championships are nice of course, but it’s the process you go through in building teams that produce relationships that last a lifetime that really mean the most. That really is the beauty of a team sport like basketball and I’ve been lucky enough to have coached it for a long time.”

The UAA and UAF hockey teams squared off for the second straight weekend in Fairbanks for the sixth and final time this season to decide the winner of the 2024-25 Alaska Airlines Governor’s Cup series. After rallying in the third period to force overtime, the Seawolves ultimately fell in a shootout, which meant the Nanooks claimed the series for a 14th-straight season.

Junior defenseman Dylan Finlay led UAA with a pair of goals, including his team’s first of the game in the second period and the one to cut their deficit to a goal early in the third.

Here in town, the UAA women’s basketball team also faced off with UAF and recorded its third straight win in a blowout. The Seawolves’ 93-50 victory marked their 20th of the season and was highlighted by a trio of double-doubles with the most notable being by fabulous freshman Ashlyn Rean, who led the team with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Seniors Tori Hollingshead and Emilia Long recorded the other two double-doubles. Hollingshead finished second in scoring and rebounds with 19 points and 10 boards while Long finished third in scoring with 13 points and led the team with a season-high 10 assists.

“We came out of the gates a little slow, but we made the proper adjustments and got back into our game plan in the second quarter,” UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the UAA men’s team failed to build off the momentum of notching its first win in nearly a month by dropping both games against GNAC opponents this past week. Despite getting career-high totals from several players, including a career-high 28 points from junior forward Bishop Tosi, the Seawolves lost by double-digit margins to both Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.

After rewriting the GNAC record books yet again by becoming the first male in conference history to run a sub-21-second 200 meters at the Riverfront Invitational, UAA’s Joshua Caleb earned his fifth career GNAC Male Track Athlete of the Week honor and third this season. He broke his own indoor record with a time of 20.82 seconds, which keeps his name at the top of the NCAA DII national performance list. Caleb was the only non-Division I runner in his section at the meet and finished second among a field of 18. He also won the 60-meter race at the meet with a first-place time of 6.62 seconds.

“Joshua continues to show an encouraging consistency,” UAA head coach Ryan McWilliams said in a statement. “Not every race is perfect or goes according to plan, but he continues to stay relaxed and not force things. His races have had stiffer competition in them as the season has progressed, and he continues to rise to the challenge and compete well. We think he is building toward something special.”

UAF skier Rosie Fordham represented the Nanooks and her home country of Australia well on the international stage by recording a silver medal finish in the 10K freestyle interval start race at the U23 and Junior World Championships on Saturday. Her second place time of 33:02.1 was just 25.7 seconds behind Germany’s Helen Hoffman and marked the first-ever medal for Australia at the event.

One of the top football recruits to hail from the Last Frontier in recent memory continues to be in high demand as Bartlett’s Deuce Alailefaleula announced he received a full-ride scholarship offer to play at Boise State University. It marks his eighth NCAA Division I offer in less than a calendar year with the others coming from Boston College, Florida Atlantic, Gardner-Webb, Washington State University, University of Tennessee-Martin, University of Texas-San Antonio and Liberty University.

Alaska stars shining Outside

Anchorage’s Jeremy Swayman helped lead the Boston Bruins to consecutive wins in a 3-0 triumph over the Minnesota Wild last Tuesday. The former South standout prevented a whopping 36 shots on goal from reaching the back of the net, marking his 18th win of the season and third shoutout.

“It’s important building my own game and knowing that I’m helping this team win games every time I get a chance to be in the net. That’s my job,” Swayman said via nhl.com. “Every shutout isn’t an individual effort, it takes a whole team in front of me to do their job, and that’s what they did tonight, blocking shots, making sure they cleared rebounds, and it was a really great team effort for us to build off.”

A pair of Alaskans squared off in the NBA G-League for the second time in three days last Monday and they both reached double figures in scoring. Fairbanks' Daishen Nix helped lead the Rio Grande Valley Vipers to a 124-114 win over Anchorage’s JT Thor and the Cleveland Charge. While Thor logged the most points of the two with 17 which ranked fourth on his team, Nix had the better all-around game with 12 points, six assists, two steals, two rebounds and committed fewer turnovers. After nearly notching a double-double with 19 points and nine assists in a 110-103 win over the Rip City Remix on Friday, Nix was called up and signed a 10-day contract with the Sacramento Kings on Sunday. He will get a chance to step up and help fill the void of All-Star point guard De’Aaron Fox who was dealt to the San Antonio Spurs last week as part of a three-team trade.

Anchorage’s Mia ‘Uhila helped propel the University of Hawaii at Manoa women’s basketball team to a come-from-behind 65-58 win over UC Santa Barbara this past Saturday with her best scoring output of her collegiate career. The former Bartlett star and Alaska Gatorade Player of the Year led the Rainbow Warriors with 23 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals. ‘Uhila recorded 15 points in the third quarter alone to give her team the lead heading into the fourth and the win not only extended their win streak to 11 straight but they became the first team to clinch a spot in the 2025 Big West Women’s Basketball Championship.

Anchorage’s Sayvia Sellers made an impact on both ends of the court for the University of Washington women’s basketball team in a narrow 81-73 loss to Maryland on Sunday. The former Anchorage Christian School star finished second on the team with 19 points and led the Huskies with five assists and five steals and also corralled a pair of rebounds.

Anchorage’s Mikayla Johnson helped lead the University of Pittsburgh women’s basketball team to a 79-66 win over Boston College last Thursday. The former Bartlett standout tied for second on the team in scoring with 15 points, marking her 13th double-digit effort of the season.

Anchorage’s Mykaila Pickard had a career-best day for the Adams State University women’s basketball team in a 79-49 victory over Fort Lewis College last Tuesday. The former Anchorage Christian School standout drained six of her eight field goal attempts from behind the arc to lead the Grizzlies in scoring with 18 points. Both figures were season and career bests at the non-junior college level.

Anchorage’s Isaiah Moses came up one point shy of tying his single-game high in scoring for the season for the University of California Riverside men’s basketball team in a 91-71 loss to UC San Diego last Thursday. The former Dimond star and Alaska Gatorade Player of the Year led the Highlanders in scoring with 25 points that included going 5-of-9 on 3-pointers and shooting 10-of-17 from the field overall.

Anchorage’s Kaeleb Johnson recorded his 18th double-digit scoring outings of the season for the Vancouver Island University men’s basketball team in a 90-74 win over Capilano on Friday. The former East standout finished first on the Mariners in scoring with a season-high 26 points that included going 4-of-6 from behind the arc.

(If you know of an Alaska athlete who has achieved a standout performance or reached a noteworthy milestone on the Outside, email sports@adn.com or jreed@adn.com with the details.)

Fast Forward

Prep

Basketball

Lady Grizzly Tournament at Grace Christian School, Thursday-Saturday

The two-time defending 3A girls state champions will host their annual Hardwood Classic this week where several teams from Alaska’s top two levels of competition will square off. The list of attendees includes host Grace Christian, fellow 3A powerhouse Monroe Catholic, East, Nikiski and West.

Dimond at East, Friday at 7:30 p.m.

The top 4A matchup in town this week will pit the two-time defending Thunderbirds and the Lynx against each other for the second time this season. Dimond is the only team in the CIC to play East down to the wire and only lose by just in a single possession after falling 52-49 at home last month.

Hockey

ASAA Division I championship at Menard Sports & Events Center, Saturday at 5 p.m.

The postseason for the 2024-25 season will officially come to a close this weekend with the Division I state tournament taking place out in the Mat-Su Valley in Palmer. Action starts Thursday and will run through Saturday with defending state champion West looking poised to repeat.

Last week’s results

High School

Basketball

Girls

Monday

Susitna Valley 54, Redington 22

Tuesday

Mountain City Christian 42, Colony 36

Wasilla 61, Palmer 26

Bartlett 68, South 23

West 58, Service 51

Chugiak 56, East 20

Dimond 67, Eagle River 24

Lumen Christi 47, Redington 23

Soldotna 50, Nikiski 42

Thursday

Minto 62, Cook Inlet Academy 10

Seward 41, Bethel 31

Susitna Valley 57, Walter Northway 41

Colony 77, West Valley 7

Homer 41, Kodiak 39

Mountain City Christian 44, Barrow 34

Friday

Cook Inlet Academy 40, Effie Kokrine Charter 13

Seward 61, Kodiak 19

Bartlett 67, Service 54

West 53, South 23

Nikiski 46, Kenai Central 30

Wasilla 65, Juneau-Douglas 34

Colony 58, Mountain City Christian 38

Saturday

Barrow 57, Palmer 26

Seward 54, Homer 22

Mountain City Christian 69, North Pole 33

Susitna Valley 42, Tri-Valley 12

Boys

Monday

Susitna Valley 65, Redington 56

Tuesday

Palmer 50, Wasilla 48

East 77, Chugiak 40

Bartlett 65, South 46

Dimond 66, Eagle River 32

Service 65, West 63

Colony 54, Mountain City Christian 23

Redington 45, Lumen Christi 39

Thursday

Cook Inlet Academy 75, Minto 51

Bethel 57, Seward 54

Birchwood Christian 54, Holy Rosary Academy 20

Homer 54, Ninilchik 47

Susitna Valley 87, Walter Northway 82

Friday

Ninilchik 56, Seward 50

Kenai Central 81, Nikiski 42

Grace Christian 59, Mountain City Christian 57

Chugiak 70, Dimond 58

Cook Inlet Academy 71, Effie Kokrine Charter 61

West 49, South 40

East 43, West Valley 41

Bethel 66, Homer 63

Saturday

Susitna Valley 77, Nunamiut 65

Ninilchik 74, Bethel 67

East 70, Lathrop 50

Wasilla 64, Grace Christian 57

Service 60, West 58

Nome-Beltz 71, Houston 32

Hockey

Boys

Monday

Bartlett 11, Service 2

Tuesday

South 4, Bartlett 3

Eagle River 6, Dimond 5

Thursday

Juneau-Douglas 5, Houston 4

Palmer 10, Tri-Valley 1

Kenai Central 1, North Pole 0

Soldotna 7, Delta 2

West 6, Eagle River 0

Chugiak 5, South 2

Friday

Houston 9, Tri-Valley 1

Palmer 5, Juneau-Douglas 2

West Valley 6, Wasilla 2

Soldotna 2, Kenai Central 1

South 3, Eagle River 2

Colony 10, Lathrop 2

Dimond 4, Bartlett 2

Saturday

Houston 10, Delta 2

West Valley 9, Colony 3

Juneau-Douglas 5, Kenai Central 3

Palmer 9, Soldotna 1

West 2, Chugiak 0

Girls

State championship

Thursday

Dimond/West 9, Service/East 0

Palmer/Colony 2, Chugiak/Eagle River 0

South/Bartlett 3, Wasilla/Houston 2

Fairbanks 8, Kenai Peninsula 1

Friday

Dimond/West 1, Palmer/Colony 0

Fairbanks 3, South/Bartlett 1

Chugiak/Eagle River 2, Service/East 1

Kenai Peninsula 4, Wasilla/Houston 0

Saturday

Service/East 1, Wasilla/Houston 0

Dimond/West 3, Fairbanks 2

Palmer/Colony 6, South/Bartlett 5

Chugiak/Eagle River 4, Kenai Peninsula 1

Bowling

Monday

Boys

Service 27, South 8

Service - Paul Clark 180

South - Jack Wood 159

East 33, Eagle River 2

East - Damien Cruz 233

Eagle River - Keirnan Griffith 164

West 35, Chugiak 0

West - Jahdyn Odom - 248

Chugiak - Michael Nelson 152

Girls

South 29, Service 6

South - Aleesha Williams 139

Service - Evelyn Schultz 109, Isabella Hartvigson 109

Wednesday

Varsity Shootout

Boys

1.) Marcos Vian, West, 509; 2.) Damien CruzEast, 474; 3.) Colton Penetac, East, 451; 4.) Dennis McCoshum, Dimond, 428; 5.) Jahdyn Odom, West 419; 6.) Timothy Keihn, Dimond, 382; 7.) Michael Henry, Dimond, 366; 8.) Logan Jokela, Dimond, 365; 9.) Nathan Smith, Eagle River, 338; 10.) Jack Wood, South, 336.

Girls

1.) Abigail Lanehart, Chugiak, 449; 2.) Kaitlyn Heaston, Chugiak, 349; 3.) Khloee Waldren, Dimond 319; 4.) Abigail Jokela, Dimond, 297; 4.) Kara Lyman, Bartlett, 297; 6.) Sierra Walkins, Dimond, 287; 7.) Lillian Blumenberg, Service, 280; 7.) Lina Phatthana, East, 280; 9.) Margaret Henry, Dimond, 272; 10.) Kendall Bencid, West, 271.

Cross country skiing

Friday

Region IV Championship

7.5K Skate Ski

Girls A

1.) Greta Bochenek, West, 20:47.9; 2. Haley Finch, Service, 21:05.2; 3.) Faith Harlamert, Service, 21:05.6; 4.) Talia Smith, Service, 21:06.0; 5. Rosie Conway, East, 21:19.5; 6. Merridy Littell, West, 21:29.3; 7. Reine Soule, Service, 21:29.4; 8. Mady Lowen, Dimond, 21:32.9; 9.) Olivia Ronzio Pico, Chugiak, 21:35.5; 10.) Talia Day, Service, 21:37.7

Boys A

1.) Vebjorn Flagstad, South, 17:14.4; 2.) Noa Kam-Magruder, 17:44.8; 3.) John Lohuis, Service, 18:11.1; 4.) Elias Oswald, Service, 18:11.3; 5.) Miles Numme-Worrel, East, 18:32.4; 6.) Zane Griffis, Service, 18:40.2; 7.) Ethan Styvar, South, 19:02.0; 8.) Aksel Flagstad, South, 19:03.4; 9. Grayson Stanek-Alward, South, 19:03.7; 10.) Braxton Thornley, South, 19:08.9

Saturday

Region IV Championship

3K Relays

Girls A

1.) West, 39:01.7; 2.) Service, 40:02.6; 3.) East, 41:44.5; 4.) South ‚43:00.5; 5.) Dimond, 45:12.5; 6.) Chugiak, 48:22.2; 7.) Eagle River, 49:21.9

Boys A

1.) South, 33:16.1; 2.) Service, 34:15.4; 3.) Dimond. 35:19.6; 4.) East, 36:38.9; 5.) West, 36:44.6; 6.) Chugiak, 40:01.1; 7.) Eagle River, 43:48.6

Team scores

Girls A

1.) Service, 2:04:48.8; 2.) West, 2:04:58.7; 3.) East, 2:11:53.1; 4.) South, 2:16:09.0; 5.) Dimond, 2:24:45.7; 6.) Chugiak, 2:27:09.5; 7.) Eagle River, 2:37:07.3

Boys A

1.) South, 1:47:39.6; 2.) Service, 1:48:35.9; 3.) Dimond, 1:54:28.3; 4.) East, 1:56:22.8; 5.) West, 1:57:45.0; 6.) Chugiak, 2:07:33.1; 7.) Eagle River, 2:17:01.4

College

Women’s basketball

Saturday

UAA 93, UAF 50

Men’s basketball

Thursday

Central Washington 76, UAA 66

Northwest Nazarene 78, UAF 70

Saturday

Central Washington 92, UAF 75

Northwest Nazarene 72, UAA 51

Hockey

Saturday

UAA 4, UAA 3 (SO)