Rookie leads Colony to win

WASILLA — Earlier in the week, Colony freshman Luke Moma was skating on the Knights’ second line. But before the Knights stepped on to the ice to play their season-opener against the Houston Hawks, Moma was promoted to the top unit.

Turns out, that was a pretty good call by the Colony coaching staff.

Moma scored a pair of goals during his first high school game and led the Knights to a 3-1 win over the Hawks at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

“We made some shifts on our lines and that helped us out,” Colony first-year head coach Fred McKenney said. “(Moma’s) a good little player.”

Moma scored twice in the third period and sophomore goalie Forrest Savel made 22 saves to help the Knights score the come-from-behind win over a shorthanded, but scrappy, Houston squad.

Kyle Miller also scored for the Knights.

After Miller tied the game late in the second period, Moma gave the Knights the lead with a power-play goal 21 seconds into the third. The freshman forward picked up a lose puck just beyond the center line and fired a shot from the blue line.

“They left (the puck), and I came in and tried to get it in deep,” Moma said.

Moma slapped the shot toward the goal, and the puck trickled through the grasp of Houston goalie Ben Barenburg.

Midway through the third, Moma skated through the left circle, picked up the rebound of a Trevor Nickerson shot and snuck the puck into the net to give the Knights the 3-1 lead.

“I was circling around the net and found the rebound,” Moma said.

Miller tied the score at 1-1 late in the second, when he capped an odd-man rush with a quick wrist shot. Alex Conrad led the rush, created by a Houston turnover near the blue line. Conrad was tripped up on the play, but still managed to get the puck to Miller to set up the score.

Sophomore defenseman Zach Lovelace gave the Hawks the lead earlier in the second with his first career goal. With the Hawks on the power play, Zack Weisz sent a pass from the point to Lovelace, who was in the slot. Lovelace flipped a shot on net.

Colony sophomore netminder Forrest Savel stopped 21 Houston shots, only letting the Lovelace attempt by.

“He would have had to been Jacques Plante to save that one,” McKenney said, making a reference to the National Hockey League legend who back-stopped the Montreal Canadians to six Stanley Cups. “(Forrest) did a great job. He made some key saves that kept us in the game.”

Despite being outshot in every period, Houston was able to put some solid chances on net. Forward Ken Doss used a nifty stick move at the blue line to create a quick 1-on-1 chance that Savel needed to knock away midway through the first.

Freshman Lane Styers chipped the puck up to Johan Shuey who had a solid shot on a Houston 2-on-1 later in the period.

Overall, Houston head coach Mike Styers was proud of the play of his small squad, which features only six players on the bench.

“We kind of let down in the third, but other than that I thought they played with them,” Styers said. “We’ve got some real young, inexperienced players, but they worked hard.”

Styers was particularly impressed with Barenburg, who recorded 27 saves in the loss.

“Definitely a big improvement over last year,” Styers said of Barenburg, who is beginning just his second season as a goaltender. “I thought he had a real good game.”

Colony 3, Houston 1

Friday, Menard Arena

First period — no scoring.

Second period — 1. Houston- Lovelace (Wiesz, Styers) pp 7:41; 2. Colony- Miller (Conrad) 3:26.

Third period — 3. Colony- Moma (Nezaticky) pp 14:39; 4. Colony- Moma (Nickerson, Nezaticky) 7:03.

Shots on goal: Colony 9-9-12—30, Houston 5-8-9—22; Saves: Colony- Savel 5-7-9—31, Houston- Barenburg 9-8-10—27; Power plays: Colony 0-for-6, Houston 1-for-6; Penalties: Colony 10-for-30, Houston 7-for-16.

Shorthanded scores

spark West

EAGLE RIVER — The West Anchorage Eagles scored three shorthanded goals en route to an 8-0 win over Palmer at the MacDonald Ice Arena in Eagle River Friday.

West popped in a pair of shorthanded scores during a 38-second span in the first period and added another midway through the third.

West also scored on the power play.

Seven different players scored for West.

Senior Jonas Naegele stopped 39 of ßWest’s 47 shots.

West Anchorage 8, Palmer 0

Friday, MacDonald Arena

First period — 1. West- Callaway (Manzer, Petrino) 5:31; 2. West- Wisthoff (unassisted) sh 2:57; 3. West- Miller (unassisted) sh 2:19.

Second period — 4. West- Wisthoff (Butcher, Miller) 13:06; 5. West- Olson (Miller, Langford) 5:45; 6. West- Snelson (Manzer, Johnson) 2:17.

Third period — 7. West- Osgood (Langford, Barth) sh 9:15; 8. West- Thompson (Osgood, Callaway) 2:16.

Shots on goal: Palmer 3-2-3—7, West 15-21-11—47; Saves: Palmer- Naegele 12-18-9—39, West- Mendenhall 3-2-3—7; Penalties: Palmer 3-for-6, West 5-for-10.

Wolverines edge

Warriors

ANCHORAGE — The South Anchorage Wolverines scored twice during a 54-second span midway through the second period, and edged Wasilla 3-2 at the Ben Boeke Arena in Anchorage Friday.

Jade Johnston and Trent Wohlers each scored to give Wasila leads during the Warriors’ season opener. Johnston scored, with help from Wohlers and defenseman Michael Johnston, with 5:31 left in the first to give Wasilla the 1-0 advantage.

Wohlers recorded an unassisted tally at the 9:49 mark to give the Warriors the 2-1 lead.

But just more than a minute after Wohlers scored, Kyle Head snuck a puck past Wasilla goalie Chris Yaskus to tie the score at 2. Tayler Wells followed with another South score at the 7:52 mark.

Yaskus finished with 24 saves in the loss.

Wasilla returns to the ice Wednesday to face Bartlett at 7:15 p.m. in the first round of the Menard Memorial Tournament.

South Anchorage 3, Wasilla 2

Friday, Ben Boeke Arena

First period — 1. Wasilla- J. Johnston (Wohlers, M. Johnston) 5:31; 2. South- Small (Wells) 0:47.

Second period — 3. Wasilla- Wohlers (unassisted) 9:49; 4. South- Head (unassisted) 8:46; 5. South- Wells (Small) 7:52.

Third period — no scoring.

Shots on goal: Wasilla 4-7-10—21, South 11-7-9—27; Saves: Wasilla- Yaskus 10-5-9—24, South- Gutierrez 3-6-10—19; Penalties: Wasilla 5-for-10, South 9-for-29.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.