Big 3rd lifts Wasilla past Colony in NSC hockey match

WASILLA — With less than a week left in the North Star Conference season, three Valley teams are locked in a battle for a top-2 seed and first-round bye in the upcoming conference tournament.

Thursday, the Wasilla Warriors moved forward in the race. Wasilla used a big third period to skate past rival Colony 5-3 at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

"It was a big win for us," Wasilla head coach Trent Schachle said. "It'd be nice to go into regions with a bye in the first round. That's what we're hoping to do. We've got a big one against Palmer."

That big one against Palmer, is the final game of the regular season, a contest set for Jan. 31 in Wasilla. It's one of three games that will decide the top two seeds. Palmer played Colony Saturday night, suffering a 6-1 loss. The Moose and Knights meet again Tuesday in Palmer.

Heading into its match Saturday, Palmer stood in first place, but dropped to third with the loss. Wasilla and Colony now stand tied at first with identical 6-2-1 marks. Palmer is 6-2-0.

A pair of seniors played big roles during Wasilla's third period against the Knights.

Forward Luke Schruf, who bagged a hat trick, scored two of his three goals in the final period. Goalie Kiana Verplancke made 15 of her 29 saves in the third.

"She played really good for us," Schachle said of Verplancke. "She was covering all the rebounds."

The rivals traded the lead back and forth through the first two periods, but Schruf's two goals in the third have the Warriors the cushion they needed. Schachle praised Schruf for the big scores, but also lauded the work of his team as a whole.

"We worked hard," Schachle said. "As we've said to our team before, we have to out-work every team. That's what we did. We went out and worked hard."

Schruf gave his team an early lead, scoring at the 8:37 mark of the first, but the Knight carried a lead into the final six minutes of the second period. Josh Boyer tied the score at 1 late in the first, and Isaac Vincent gave Colony the lead, with a goal at the 12:42 mark of the second.

Wasilla tied the game with a Larsen Tubbs goal at the 8:20 mark of the second, and WHS took the 3-2 lead when Blake Marks scored three minutes later.

Colony tied the score once again in the third, with Jacob Link's tally. But Schruf was the difference in the final period, scoring twice in the final 6:30 of play.

Wasilla 5, Colony 3

Thursday, Brett Arena

First period — 1. Wasilla- Schruf (Conroy, Marks) 8:37; 2. Colony- Boyer (Link) 4:30.

Second period — 3. Colony- Vincent (Eller, Thiele) 12:42; 4, Wasilla- Tubbs (Morrison, Brunnhoelzl) 8:20; 5. Wasilla- Marks (Schruf, Conroy) 5:53.

Third period — 6. Colony- Link (Boyer, Sanders) 9:55; 7. Wasilla- Schruf (Conroy) 6:30; 8. Wasilla- Schruf (Conroy, Morrison) 0:13.5.

Shots on goal: Colony 6-9-16--31, Wasilla 8-13-8--29, Saves: Colony- Diltz 7-11-6--24., Wasilla- Verplancke 5-8-15--29.