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.
 ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman Colony sophomore Forrest Savel blocks a Houston shot as Colony blueliner Stephen Tobin moves Houston'€™s Ken Doss out of the crease Friday at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla. |
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.
Comments
24 comment(s)I challenge all wrote on Nov 24, 2009 9:09 PM:
Here we go again wrote on Nov 20, 2009 8:06 AM:
Dont dress em wrote on Nov 18, 2009 5:49 PM:
To Disagree wrote on Nov 18, 2009 12:20 PM:
Colony Player wrote on Nov 18, 2009 7:16 AM:
cOLONY pLAYER i DISAGREE wrote on Nov 17, 2009 12:03 PM:
You cant play as a team and that is where you will fail to win the simple games. Nothing changes! "
Colony Player wrote on Nov 16, 2009 9:10 AM:
hmm wrote on Nov 15, 2009 6:02 PM:
Good job Colony wrote on Nov 13, 2009 11:41 PM:
Dan wrote on Nov 13, 2009 12:49 PM:
You must like it somewhat since you read the article and even responded to it. Thanks for your support. Hope NOT to see you at the rink! Prove me right and respond to my post! "
Hockey sucks wrote on Nov 13, 2009 9:29 AM:
What wrote on Nov 13, 2009 1:17 AM:
fan wrote on Nov 13, 2009 12:28 AM:
Wrong Gma wrote on Nov 12, 2009 9:43 PM:
Refs said nothing to us. "
Hockey Mom wrote on Nov 12, 2009 6:53 PM:
Hockey Gma wrote on Nov 12, 2009 3:51 PM:
Chief Wasilla wrote on Nov 10, 2009 9:06 PM:
passing the puck up ice makes a TEAM
trying to dangle through everyone and get penalties doesn't
good luck against Dimond "
3-1 what a shame wrote on Nov 10, 2009 1:29 PM:
To Peninnsula Fan wrote on Nov 10, 2009 1:05 PM:
Warrior Fan wrote on Nov 9, 2009 1:09 PM:
Palmer- keep on truckin! You need to enjoy this year and have fun with it. Maybe in a few years you will have a chance again. "
Peninsula fan wrote on Nov 9, 2009 8:03 AM:
Hockey Mom wrote on Nov 8, 2009 7:45 PM:
Sportmanship wrote on Nov 8, 2009 3:28 PM:
Thanks Colony wrote on Nov 8, 2009 10:03 AM: