Colony takes 3 from Interior road trip

FAIRBANKS — As Colony skated into the 2010-11 season, head coach Jamie Smith knew his Knights would go through some growing pains. Smith was entering his first year with the program, and the team included a load of young players who the Knights would have to rely on.

Now through the second long weekend of the season, Colony is seeing those young players contribute. And that’s translating into wins for the Knights.

Colony finished a perfect 3-0 during a three-game tour of the Interior over the weekend, scoring nonconference wins over Monroe Catholic, North Pole and Hutchinson.

“Our young guys have progressed tremendously,” Smith said by cell phone as his team was returning to the Valley by bus Saturday evening. “We’ve gelled.”

One of those young players, Trevor Naylor, helped the Knights make a clean sweep on the road and improve to 4-2 overall.

Naylor posted 11 points in three games. He posted a pair of goals and two assists during a 7-2 win over Monroe on Thursday, scored a goal and three assists during a 5-2 win over North Pole and recorded another three assists during a 6-2 win over Hutchinson on Saturday.

“He’s been the best player on the rink,” Smith said. “Such a playmaker.”

Smith said Naylor has helped settle the Colony power play down, and that helped the Knights post five goals with the advantage during the weekend.

“He got an assist on almost every one of those goals,” Smith said.

But Naylor is not the only young player producing.

Morgan McJimsey, who saw time at both forward and defense, scored twice against North Pole and another time against Monroe.

Freshman Anthony Kolendo scored twice against Hutchinson and added a goal against Monroe.

Senior Daryl Belanger also had a big weekend. Belanger notched the hat trick against Hutchinson and scored twice against Monroe.

Owen Nardini and Braxton Cline also scored against Monroe, Mark Thygesen scored against North Pole and Kevin Hartley found the back of the net against Hutchinson.

Both Colony netminders played during the weekend. Jason Murak stopped 23 shots during the win over Monroe and 22 during the victory over Hutchinson.

Smith said Murak’s play in net early during the Hutchinson win was especially important. Forrest Savel had 22 saves during the win over North Pole.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com. Follow him at Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.