Away in a manger: Nativities rooted in history

WASILLA -- With thanks in part to a third period scoring flurry, the Houston Hawks made history Wednesday night as they defeated the Colony Knights 6-1 at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena.

The win marked the first time the Houston program has scored a win over the Knights in varsity hockey competition. With the win, Houston is also 3-0 against their Valley foes, also a first for the Hawks.

Houston scored six unanswered goals to erase an early 1-0 deficit and beat the Knights 6-1. Four of those goals came in the third period.

The third period scoring frenzy is not uncommon for the Hawks as of late. Houston scored eight times en route to a 10-1 win over Wasilla last week.

"It goes back to the depth of our bench," Houston head coach Jamie Smith said. "We were skating with three lines throughout the entire game, while they were primarily skating with two. It finally caught up to them."

Houston goaltender Matt Dirschner had a stellar performance in net, turning away 41 shots.

"Dirschner was the player of the night," Smith said.

The junior netminder allowed only one Colony goal, a power play score in the first period. Following the lone Knight score, Dirschner pitched a shutout for the final 37 minutes of the contest.

Dirschner came up big in the first period, helping the Hawks kill three of four penalties, including a pair of Colony 5-on-3 opportunities. Dirschner also made four saves, while Colony skated with a two-man advantage after the Knights pulled their goaltender late in the third period.

Colony jumped to an early 1-0 lead on a power play goal from Konstantinos Lambernakis. The junior forward scored right off the face-off following, a Matthew Bertling penalty. Bertling made a vicious hit on Colony blueliner Amanda Guild. The hit sent Guild to the ice and Bertling to the penalty box. On the ensuing faceoff Lambernakis won the draw, recovered the puck, skated down the ice and scored.

With 90 seconds left in the first period, Houston scored on a power play of its own. Roy Stull took a pass from Jimmy Estes and put the puck in the Colony net.

The score remained tied until late in the second period when outstanding individual effort by Jake Williams would put the Hawks ahead.

The Houston captain stole the puck from Colony forward Ryan Pauling in the corner of the rink behind the Houston net. Williams skated around behind the Hawk net and up the ice through the Colony defense en route to scoring the go-ahead goal.

Williams' younger brother Wade made it a two-goal contest early in the third period. Just less than two minutes into the third period, the puck deflected off a Colony stick and traveled down the ice toward the Knight net where Williams outskated the Colony defense and slid the puck underneath the stick of Colony goaltender Nolan Rein.

Two minutes later, a Houston 2-on-1 turned into a quick one-on-one between Ellis and Rein as Jered Cizek intercepted a Colony pass and sent it up the ice to Ellis, who deked Rein and made it a 4-1 contest.

Junior defensemen James Hundley later added an even strength goal and Jake Williams scored a short handed empty net tally to round out the scoring for Houston.

Despite allowing six goals, Colony allowed Houston only 21 shots on goal.

"Colony came in with a good game plan," Smith said. "They protected their goaltender well. We just took what they gave us and were able to open the game up."

Houston 6 Colony 1

First period: Scoring: Colony, Lambernakis PP 7:11; Houston, Stull (Ellis, W. Williams) PP 1:30; Penalties: Houston, McClurg 2-high sticking 13:08; Houston, Spidal 2-hooking 11:39; Houston, W. Williams 2-holding 10:01; Colony, King 2- cross checking 9:43; Houston, Bertling 2-rouging 7:19; Colony, Luthi 2-holding 1:45.

Second period: Scoring: Houston, J. Williams EV 5:58; Penalties: Houston, R. Morlock 2-hooking 14:43.

Third period: Scoring: Houston, W. Williams EV 13:18; Houston, Ellis (Cizek) EV 11:17; Houston, Hundley (Cizek) EV 6:09; Houston, J. Williams SH EN 2:28; Penalties: Houston, Bertling 2-tripping 3:46.

Totals: PP: Houston 0-2, Colony 1-6; Shots: Houston 21, Colony 42; Saves: Dirschner 41, Rein 15.