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FAIRBANKS — The Hutchison Hawks split a Greatland Conference high school hockey series with the Glennallen Panthers on Friday and Saturday at Glennallen.

The Hawks won Friday night’s series opener 7-2, but the Panthers captured a 4-3 decision on Saturday morning.

“Any time you can go into Glennallen and get a split, it’s a good thing,” Hutchison coach Dave Teets said upon returning to Fairbanks Saturday evening. “I thought the kids played real well. They didn’t quite or get frustrated when Glennallen came back on us today. They stayed with the game plan.”

Drew Baggon led the Hawks on Friday night with a two goals and an assist. Jordy Sunberg added a goal and two assists to the winning effort, while John Teets and Dorran Masters each had a goal and an assist. Ben Farmham and Michael Walker also scored goal for the Hawks.

Goalie Hayden Nilson stopped 20 shots to get the win.

Dan Greeson and Dillon Sondergaard scored Glennallen’s goals. Netminder Gerald Mills stopped 29 shots.

“The thing I really liked about that game was that we were ahead 7-2 with about three minutes to go, and it was about 10 below and we still had kids going down and blocking shots,” Teets said.

On Saturday, the Hawks had a 2-0 lead before Glennallen stormed back to claim the win.

Greeson and Wendt (first name not available) each had a goal for Glennallen, and Wahr (first name not available), scored twice to secure the win. Mills made 28 saves.

Baggon, Walker and Kyle Dancer accounted for the Hutchison goals. Shayna Thomas and Nilson shared the netminding duties and combined for 13 saves.

“I thought we played a lot better than the final score showed,” Teets said.

The series brought back memories for coach Teets, who played in the original Big Dipper as a member of the Alaska Gold Kings in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the temperatures inside the Dipper weren’t much warmer than the temperatures outside.

“It was pretty neat and brought back a lot of memories from way back when,” he said. “That’s pure hockey right there.”

Teets and the Hawks will get the chance to check out the outdoor and semi-outdoor rinks of the Interior with games at Kenny Lake, Tri-Valley, Delta Junction and Tok coming up later in the season.

“It should be a lot of fun,” Teets said.

Delta sweeps

The Delta Huskies completed a two-game Greatland Conference sweep of the Kenny Lake Hawks by notching a 4-3 victory on Saturday morning in Delta Junction.

The Huskies opened the series with a 6-3 victory on Friday night.

“It’s always a positive when you get some Ws under your belt,” said Delta Junction coach Mike Long. “It’s a good starting point for us, now we have to stay the course.”

Junior Joe scored three goals and Trevor Gilbertson had the other in Saturday’s triumph. Jake Gebauer and Robert Smith registered assists. Goalies Harold Probert and Justin Carpenter combined for 13 saves.

Dirk Rosencranz, Garrett Rosencranz and Alex Van Whye accounted for Kenny Lake’s goals, with Garrett Rosencranz and Wade Jones notched assists. Goalie David Helkenn registered 46 saves.

Tri-Valley triumphs

The Tri-Valley Warriors hockey team lived up to its billing as a third-period squad Saturday afternoon.

Tri-Valley overcame a two-goal deficit in the final period to get a 5-4 win over the Nikiski Bulldogs in Greatland Conference action.

“It’s getting a little old, though,” Warriors head coach Nick Evans said of his team’s consistent need for comebacks. “It’s going to wear on the team soon enough.”

Defensive breakdowns caused Tri-Valley to fall behind to the undermanned Bulldogs, who only sent seven players to Healy for the game.

Warriors forward Parker Vacura scored the game-winning goal, his second score on the day, after goals by Evan Venechuk and Kaz Cizmowski narrowed Nikiski’s lead in the third period.

Alex Mattielli netted the Warriors’ only first-period score.

All of Tri-Valley’s goal scorers had one assist each, and David Townsend also had an assist.

Warriors goalie Dakota Maciver was able to shut down Nikiski in the third and got 19 saves overall.

Though he wasn’t pleased that his team fell behind to a seven-man squad, Evans said the win was an emotional boost after Tri-Valley lost three close games at the End of the Road Tournament in Homer a week ago.

The win may mean more for Tri-Valley, not just emotionally but in points.

Friday night’s game between Nikiski and Tri-Valley was postponed because of cold weather. If the game cannot be made up, Saturday’s win will count as two wins for the Warriors.