Colony junior enjoys rare feat in win over Monroe

WASILLA — Hat tricks can be hard to come by. A natural hat trick is even more rare.

Thursday, Cooper Smith accomplished a feat most prep players can only dream of.

The Colony junior notched the natural hat trick with three straight shorthanded goals during a 4-0 win over Monroe Catholic Thursday at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.

“I’ve never seen. I’ve never heard of it,” Colony head coach Jamie Smith said.

Colony skated shorthanded twice in the first period, and Cooper Smith scored on each of the Monroe Catholic power plays. Smith scored unassisted with two seconds left on Monroe’s first power play of the game. That goal came at the 5:05 mark. Less than three minutes later, Smith bagged his second shorthanded tally of the game.

Smith completed his natural hat trick during Monroe’s first power play of the second, another unassisted goal.

Jamie Smith said Cooper possess a number of attributes that allows him to have success while skating on his team’s top penalty kill unit.

“He’s very smart, a very good athlete. He reads the play seconds ahead of what’s going on. Great vision on the rink,” Jamie Smith said. “A lot of kids telegraph their passes. (Cooper) has a knack for reading it. He jumps plays, picks off passes.”

Jamie Smith said another part of it is how well Cooper Smith plays well fellow junior Jake Hessinger, a longtime teammate.

“(Cooper) and Jake work so well together,” Smith said.

Overall, Smith said special teams have been key for the Knights, who improved to 13-1-1 in their last 15 games with the win over Monroe. In addition to Cooper Smith and Hessinger on the team’s top penalty kill unit, Jamie Smith said senior Otto Thiele and sophomore Tristan Avoletta are strong on the team’s next unit.

Thiele also scored a special teams goal Thursday, notching a power play tally in the third.

Cooper Smith’s shorthanded goals provided the highlights, but Jamie Smith said he was pleased with his play of his entire team during the win over Monroe, the defending 3A state champions.

“The rest of the kids played really good. The defense played really well,” Smith said.

Senior goalie Joey Diltz also earned the shutout for the Knights, with 25 saves.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Colony 4, Monroe 0

Thursday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Colony- Smith (unassisted) sh 5:02; 2. Colony- Smith (Monaco, Hessinger) 2:36.

Second period — 3. Colony- Smith (unassisted) 2:49.

Third period — 4. Colony- Thiele (Avoletta) 3:20.

Shots on goal: Monroe 12-10-3—25, Colony 7-9-13—26; Saves: Colony- Diltz 12-10-3—25, Monroe- Jankowski 5-8-8—21, Pasillas x-x-4—4.