Colony, Wasilla, Palmer win during first day of Big Lake hockey tourney

BIG LAKE —The Wasilla Warriors needed three late unanswered goals to get past a scrappy Hutchison squad during the opening round of the Big Lake Lions Classic at the Big Lake Recreation Center.

Tied at 5 late in regulation, Wasilla scored three times during the final 3 minutes, 18 seconds of play to grab an 8-5 nonconference win over the 3A Hawks. Braden Brunnhoelzl snapped the tie with his goal at the 3:18 mark. Alex Clark scored for the Warriors with 1:20 left. Layne Morrison iced the game, scoring with 16 seconds left in the third period.

Brunnhoelzl and Luke Schruf each bagged a pair of goals in the victory. Russell Harren and Garrett Conroy also scored for Wasilla.

The Warriors led early. Brunnhoelzl tallied his first goal just more than a minute into regulation. Two minutes later, Harren scored to give Wasilla the quick 2-0 lead. Schruf also scored the first of his two goals in the first period.

Wasilla took a 4-2 lead into the final period, but the Hawks rallied. Hutchison’s Logan Tanner struck 18 seconds into the third period. Holden McCullough and Brandon Rustad scored within a three-minute span to tie the game for the Hawks.

Hutchisan is the defending 3A state champion.

Wasilla outshot Hutchison 35-18 in the win.

Wasilla moves forward to play rival Palmer in the semifinals. The Moose scored a 4-2 win over host Houston in the tournament's late game Thursday night.

Chris Dojka scored a pair of goals for the Moose. Taylor Foster and Nathaniel Savel also scored. The Moose outshot the Hawks 53-14.

Noah Gillespie and Rhea Styers scored for Houston.

Colony also won big, beating Homer 8-0 in the first round.

Jacob Link netted the hat trick to lead the Knights. Jake Branch added a pair of goals. Shawn Mitchell and Cy Eller also scored.

The Colony junior varsity also skated in the tournament, but fell to Juneau-Douglas 5-4 in the first round. Branch, who saw action in both the Colony varsity and junior varsity games, led the Colony JV with a hat trick. Jarek Schultz also scored.

Palmer, Wasilla and Colony moved into the semifinal round with their wins. Wasilla will face Palmer today at 5 p.m. at the Big Lake Rec Center. Colony and Juneau will meet in the second semifinal at 7:30 p.m.

Action Friday begins with Houston meeting Hutchison in the consolation semifinals at 11 a.m. That game is a rematch of the 2014 3A state title game. Homer plays the Colony JV at 2 p.m.

Wasilla 8, Houston 5

Thursday, Big Lake Rec Center

First period — 1. Wasilla- Brunnhoelzl (Tubbs, Harren) 13:55; 2. Wasilla- Harren (Tubbs) 11:34; 3. Hutchison- Baxter (Kadel) 5:13; 4. Wasilla- Schruf (Marks, Whitlatch) 1:17.

Second period — 5. Wasilla- Conroy (Park, Marks) 12:21; 6. Hutchison- Rustad (Davis, Newman) 10:49.

Third period — 7. Hutchison- Tanner (unassisted) 14:42; 8. Wasilla- Schruf (Marks) 10:27; 9. Hutchison- McCullough (unassisted) 9:24; 10. Hutchison- Rustad (unassisted) 6:47; 11. Wasilla- Brunnhoelzl (Whitlatch) 3:18; 12. Wasilla- Clark (Schruf) 1:20; 13. Wasilla- Morrison (unassisted) 0:16.

Shots on goal: Hutchison 4-5-9—18, Wasilla 10-14-11—35; Saves: Hutchison- Hansen 7-13-7—27, Wasilla- Curry 3-4-0—7, Verplancke x-x-6—6.

Palmer 4, Houston 2

Thursday, Big Lake

First period — 1. Palmer- Savel (Meyers, Shults) 4:46; 2. Houston- Gillespie (Chivers, Smolden) 4:09.

Second period — 3. Palmer- Dojka (Meyers, Richards) 1:56.

Third period — 4. Palmer- Dojka (Clements, Shults) 9:25; 5. Palmer- Foster (Rice, Fish) 5:00; 6. Houston- Styers (Quincy, Rowe) 0:56.

Shots on goal: Palmer 11-22-20--53, Houston 5-5-4--14, Saves: Palmer- Grogan 4-5-3--12, Houston- Allred 10-21-18--49.

Colony 7, Homer 0

Thursday, Big Lake Rec Center

First period — no scoring.

Second period — 1. Colony- Link (Boyer) 11:52; 2. Colony- Branch (Thiele, Bloemer) 7:25; 3. Colony- Mitchell (Branch, Bloemer) 6:26.

Third period — 4. Colony- Eller (Link, Boyer) 13:40; 5. Colony- Link (Griffeth, Cole) 10:42; 6. Branch (Vincent, Sanders) 9:81; 7. Colony- Link (Boyer, Thiele) 0:23.9.

Shots on goal: Homer 5-5-3--13, Colony 8-16-20--44; Saves: Homer- Swanson 8-13-16--37, Colony- Diltz 5-5-3--13.

Juneau 5, Colony JV 4

Thursday, Big Lake Rec Center

First period — 1. Colony- Branch (Smith, Hessinger) 14:46; 2. Colony- Branch (Smith, Hessinger) 9:18; 3. Juneau- Box (Hebert, Gist) 5:52; 4. Juneau- Ainsworth (Cheeseman) 5:20; 5. Juneau- Liebet (Hebert) 4:12.

Second period — 6. Colony- Branch (Havel) 13:23; 7. Colony- Schultz (Cole) 6:19; 8. Juneau- Jones (Moser, Moller) 5:59.

Third period — 9. Juneau- Moser (Jones, Dale) 8:51.

Shots on goal: Juneau 13-14-9--36, Colony JV 12-7-4--23; Saves: Juneau- Parise 10-5-4--19, Colony JV- Doss 10-13-8--31.