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FAIRBANKS — The South Anchorage hockey players were taken aside and given ultimatums.

Do this right — stop doing this wrong — or suffer the consequences, they were told by coaches. There may be a roster cut coming soon.

It seemed to have gotten their attention, as the Wolverines used an early lead to vault to a 6-3 high school win over the Lathrop Malemutes on Friday afternoon in the Big Dipper Ice Arena.

On Nov. 7, Lathrop became the first Interior team ever to defeat South with a 2-0 victory in Anchorage’s Ben Boeke Arena.

After the four-time defending 4A champions slipped under .500 with a loss Thursday to North Pole, the Wolverines (3-3) were even more eager for payback against the previously undefeated Malemutes (4-1).

“We’re working out some kinks, some emotional problems, some attitude problems,” South head coach Mike Ashley said. “Winning cures a lot. I can see the change already in the lockerroom.”

South surged ahead with a four-goal first period that included two scores by defenseman Zack Rall.

“We were just extremely flat, probably as flat as we’ve been all year long,” Lathrop head coach Shawn Lundgren said.

Rall got South on the scoreboard just 31 seconds into the game, when he got inside Lathrop’s defenders and fired a shot from the left circle that went past Malemutes starting goalie Trevor Evans stick side.

Lathrop responded quickly. One minute and 57 seconds into the game, sophomore forward Tayler Munson slid a backhand between South goalie Trevor Gutierrez’s right skate and the left post.

Rall, however, delivered a staggering blow to the Malemutes by wristing the puck into the net with 15 seconds remaining in the period, putting South up 4-1.

“You don’t ever want to give up a goal in the first minute of the period or the last minute,” Lundgren said. “We were snakebitten with that tonight.”

The Malemutes played much more solidly the final two stanzas, Lundgren noted, but they had already given an “excellent team” too much of a lead.

“This loss is going to make us a better team,” he added.

Lathrop had 4 minutes and 41 seconds of power play in the second period, including 1:19 with a two-man advantage, but were unable to score during that time.

South delivered another last-minute score when forward Austin Wuthrich netted the puck with 21 seconds remaining in the second period to give the Wolverines a 5-2 lead.

The Malemutes spent the last 5 1/2 minutes of the game on the power play, including more than 1:30 with a 5-on-3 advantage, but only a slap shot from freshman defenseman Colton Wolter found the net.

Lathrop didn’t create enough traffic in front of the net, Lundgren said, to make the power play effective.

Stephon Williams spent the majority of the game between the pipes for Lathrop. He and Evans combined for 19 saves. Gutierrez came up with 25 saves for the Wolverines.

Munson had two goals on the evening. Malemutes Alec Hadjukovich, Dawson Hebard, Torgen Soderlund, Bryan Gundersen and Evans each tallied an assist.

In addition to the goals by Rall and Wuthrich goals, Wolverines Connor Wright, Raymond Redmond and Austyn Onstott registered one score apiece.

Ian Nicoll had two helpers for South, while Nick Biescher, Kyle Simmons, Brad Schierhorn, Rall and Wright each notched one assist.