The Service High varsity hockey team slipped by West 3-2 in overtime with a little bit of controversy. West High’s very own Dawson Ellingworth shot a cannon of a shot right past Service goaltender, Ronan Klancher late in the third period. As the game was tied 2-2, the shot rang off the middle post inside the net and reflected out of the net. The referees did not see the shot go in and thought it must have hit the crossbar and missed the obvious call. Service and West would eventually go into overtime and Tyler Millar of Service, would pick up a rebound and put it by West’s goalie Chris Alexakis to win the game.
In the opening few minutes of the game Service’s Tyler Millar would get a break away and slip the puck by West goaltender, Chris Alexakis’ legs. It gave Service a 1-0 lead over the mighty Eagles. When Chris was asked about he felt after giving up an early lead he said, “I didn’t really feel anything, it was just one goal. If anything it made me play harder.” It definitely showed that it made him play harder as he didn’t get scored on again until the third period. Chris would end up stopping 35 of 38 shots. The first period was overall very close but Service was outplaying West just a little bit.
In the second period West’s defenseman, Mac Fair put a shot right by Service goaltender, Ronan Klancher and tied the game up. Fair got a great pass from sophomore Mike Curran to help set up the play. After Fair tied the game up 1-1 for West, it was just save after save as both goalies were playing tremendously. Both teams were getting plenty of chances to score but goaltenders Chris Alexakis and Ronan Klancher were just putting a stop to all the scoring opportunities.
The third period began and Service came out with a bang. Scoring only a few minutes into the period, star Service forward, Mathew Stone put one through Chris Alexakis’ legs on a break away. Service was looking strong as they now had a ton of momentum. However West wasn’t going to lay down for the cougars, as they battled back. With only 4 minutes left in the game West forward Michael Curran buried a shot to tie the game up 2-2. Curran said, “It felt like I was reliving the miracle on ice except we lost.” West High now had the momentum on their side and it showed as they were outplaying Service for the last few minutes of the period.
West Captain, Dawson Ellingworth would get an opportunity to give West a 3-2 lead over the Cougars with only 2 minutes left in the game. He took the most of this scoring opportunity as he shot a rocket past Service goaltender, Ronan Klancher. However the referees never saw the goal happen and said no goal. This was heart breaking for the Eagles and their fans because of the fact they just had a 3-2 lead over Service who is the1st placed seed in the Cook Inlet Conference, ripped away from them due to a missed call. After the game Ellingworth said, “My first thought was that I scored. I lost sight of my shot for a split second, but it went in the net and the referee didn’t call it.”
This very competitive game would eventually go into overtime and looking like it was going to be a tie due to both goalies playing amazingly well, but Service forward Tyler Millar and the rest of the Cougars, had other plans as they put a ton of pressure on West and Chris Alexakis. Service was getting plenty of shots on the net and eventually got a rebound that went straight to Tyler Millar and he put it home. Service went on to celebrate their hard fought win and West had to come to realization that they couldn’t be first place in the conference anymore. Service is sitting pretty in first position and West is tied for fourth place with South in the CIC hockey standings.