Ejections force Knights forfeit

SOLDOTNA — At least they didn’t cancel the puck chuck.

Fans attending Friday night’s North Star Conference matchup between Colony and Soldotna were relieved to hear the nightly ritual was still on after a second-period scuffle led to the ejections of two Colony players and ultimately a forfeit by the Knights, who were trailing 5-1 at the time at the Soldotna Sports Center.

“Just kind of a crazy deal,” said SoHi coach Aaron Swanson. “A bunch of penalties in the game. Refs calling it tight but calling it both sides even. It’s one of those deals where, rather than just kind of keep rolling like that, Colony just decided to call it a night.”

It all started at midice with a slash on a member of the Stars.

With the delayed penalty in effect, SoHi retaliated, delivering bone-crunching hits on the Knights before two players came to blows.

According to Colony coach Dan Belanger, who already had one player disqualified earlier in the game and two other players ejected the night before in Homer, Stephen Tobin and Daryl Belanger entered the skirmish but only to restrain their fighting teammate.

That was good enough to be ejected, though, as one referee said when someone comes off the bench or somebody uninvolved in the scuffle enters into it, they are automatically awarded a five-minute major and a game disqualification.

“I hate to say the officiating was less than favorable for us, but there’s just some things you can tell that it wasn’t going good for both ways and it just seemed to be a little lopsided,” coach Belanger said prior to learning the refs changed the game disqualifications to two-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalties with 10-minute misconducts tacked on. “When you start making up plays and you start making up penalties — you’ve got to kind be unbiased about it. You try to be as best as you can but you kind of get stuck with what you have.

“They started taking out hits at him, he starts taking hits at them, we still haven’t touched the puck,” he added of the original slashing penalty being delayed. “It just keeps escalating. Good officiating, you’re going to stop that ahead of time. You’re seeing that happen, you just don’t let it go and go and go. And there at the end, my own guys trying to hold my guy back and then we get three more DQs because of it. That’s a little unfair for them.”

With only three players and a goalie remaining on the Colony bench and the team nearing the 15-penalty mark which results in a $250 fine for the school if it’s the first offense, $500 for the second time and $1,500 for the third, Belanger had no choice but to forfeit with 6:43 remaining in the second period.

“I had other players that want to play and stuff like that, too, but when you have a team like Soldotna, I can’t put JV players in there just to watch them run up the score,” Belanger reasoned before commenting on his team’s 14 penalties. “I get fined for it, the school gets a black eye for it and I’m not going to do it. Not at the cost of the officiating and stuff like that. It’s not fair for the kids.”

It was an unusual scene for sure, but the Stars, who finished out the period by scrimmaging each other in front of the remaining fans who had just participated in the puck chuck, were just happy to escape with the win.

“Nobody really wants any kids getting in trouble or anything and we’ve got more stuff to play for,” Swanson said. “For us we’re happy just to get the win out of the game, which was ultimately our goal for the night.”

Soldotna, which drilled Colony 10-1 in the Valley on Dec. 4, started its third line to begin the contest and fell behind only 2:18 in when Daryl Belanger scooped up a loose puck in front of SoHi’s net and wristed it past goaltender William Granger for the early lead.

But the Stars answered when Daniel Markstrom, planted behind the net, fed Brad Duwe for a one-timer and Kevin Garkse made it 2-1 with an unassisted, five-on-three tally with 5:18 to play in the first.

Markstrom added another power-play goal only eight seconds later and after the first Knight was ejected for checking from behind with 57.4 ticks remaining, Markstrom corralled a Duwe rebound and slipped it past Colony netminder Forrest Savel, who was beat again just nine seconds later when Markstrom returned the favor to Duwe in closing the first with a 5-1 lead.

Following roughly eight minutes of even play in the second, the hits started flying and the game was eventually called.

“It was a good start. Actually, the first half of the game was very strong. Both teams, they played great and it was going good. To start dinging kids with major penalties when it shouldn’t have been a major penalty call, you take it with a grain of salt,” said Belanger, adding he’s been a referee in the Valley for 15 years. “I wouldn’t have called them. I wouldn’t have agreed with those.

“I’m pretty sure most of the officials I work with, that have been doing a lot longer than I have, 25 years, would say the same thing.”

Soldotna 5, Colony 1, forfeit

Friday, Soldotna Sports Center

Colony 1-0-x—1

Soldotna 5-0-x—5

First period — 1. Colony, Belanger (Wangberg, Nezaticky), 2:18; 2. Soldotna, Duwe (Markstrom, Endsley), 6:18; 3. Soldotna, Garske (un.), 9:42; 4. Soldotna, Markstrom (un.), 9:50; 5. Soldotna, Markstrom (Duwe), 14:36; 6. Soldotna, Duwe (Markstrom), 14:45. Second period — No scoring.