Colony left seeing stars in 10-1 loss

Andrew Wellner

Frontiersman

WASILLA — Nighttime comes early in Alaska during winter, but on Thursday it was the Colony Knights that set early, dropping a 10-1 dicsion to the Stars of Soldotna High School at the Mutli-Use Sports Complex.

“They played well, they positioned well, they skated well,” Colony Head Coach Dan Belanger said of Soldotna. “I think we underestimated their ability.”

For the Stars, the game started out with a bang. Michael Griffen didn’t waste any time, chalking up a goal with an assist from Brad Duwe just over 30 seconds into the game. SoHi’s Matt Silver followed up 10 mintutes later with his own goal, with help from Zack Waters.

The second period started out much the same, with Duwe scoring unassisted less than a minute in. Four minutes later, Silver picked up his second goal of the game, this time with help from Alex Stone. Three minutes later, Duwe got his second goal with an assist from Daniel Markstrom and Brandon Fisher.

Colony’s lone goal came soon after with 6:08 left to go in the period. A scrum near the crease ended with Lance Nezaticky knocking the puck in from point-blank range.

SoHi answered a minute later with a goal dumped in from just outside Colony’s crease with 4:54 left in the period. Sean Endsley took credit, with Duwe and Markstrom backing him up. The Stars’ Alex Stone followed that up with an unassisted goal with 3 minutes on the clock.

SoHi’s next score sailed in with just 1:19 left on the play clock. Duwe completed the first hat trick of the game. Markstrom picked up the assist.

For the entire first half of the third period Colony managed to hold Soldotna back. The Knights took the game to the Stars, spending much more time in Soldotna territory.

But with 5:05 to play, Soldotna found itself with a two-man advantage — two Knights were serving out penalties. Sean Endsley was able to capitalize, dumping the puck in from up close, assisted by Duwe and Markstrom. That same trio notched another goal, completing Endsley’s hat trick less than a minute later, this time with Colony one man down.

After the game, Belanger summed up his team’s play as weak in the first two periods, but stronger in the third.

“We lacked a lot of desire in the beginning,” he said. “We sat back and played defensively in the first part of the game and then we tried to play.”

Colony will face another peninsula team — Kenai Central — tonight at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena.