Houston hangs tough in loss to Colony

WASILLA — Friday didn’t start well for the Houston Hawks. Houston was coming off a 12-0 loss to Eagle River during the first day of the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Hockey Tournament and head coach Mike Styers began his day be learning that his already shorthanded Hawks would be without one of their seniors, Jon Olson, because of illness.

Then the Hawks, who started Friday’s action with only nine skaters and a goalie – found themselves down another player due to injury and losing by three goals to the rival Colony Knights. But despite all that happened, Houston managed to score three times in the third period to tie the score.

Colony freshman Anthony Kolendo helped the Knights survive the scare from the scrappy Houston squad, scoring with just less than five minutes remaining to give Colony the 4-3 win over the Hawks during the consolation semifinals of the Menard. Regardless of the outcome, Styers said he was happy his team was able to battle through everything that was going on Friday.

“[Before the game] mentally, I thought we were out of it,” Styers said. “But actually, the kids did really well.”

Daryl Belanger, Morgan McJimsey and Braxton Cline each scored during the first two periods to stake the Knights the three-goal lead, but Houston used a three-score outburst during a span of just more than two minutes during the third period to tie the game.

Senior Rye Humphreys scored twice and freshman Patric Thistle also scored.

“We tell him to go out there and play real physical in the first period, then kids kind of stay away from him,” Styers said of Humphreys, the team’s captain. “After that, it gives you some real open ice.”

Humphreys took advantage of some of that open ice five minutes into the third, while the Hawks skated on the power play. Humphreys and sophomore Chad Lipse stormed up the left wing. Lipse fed Humphreys the puck, and the senior slipped it by the stick side of Forrest Savel. That goal put Houston on the scoreboard. Just more than two minutes later, Humphreys struck again. This time, he picked up a loose puck at the bottom of the circle and fired it past Savel. The Humphreys goals sandwhiched the Thistle score.

Sixty-nine seconds after Humphreys scored for the first time, the freshman batted in the rebound of a Lane Styers shot to cut Colony’s lead to 3-2.

“He’s just a hard worker,” Styers said of Thistle. “The kid kind of sticks his nose in and goes.”

Styers said effort proved to make a difference for the Hawks.

“They kept working and working,” Styers said. “I thought the kids played well the whole game.”

Styers said he was proud of the way his players continued to work, considering the adversity the Hawks have faced during the weekend.

“Especially after playing as bad as we did (Thursday night),” Styers said.

“To come back and play hard, and be able to tie it up, I think that’s a real confidence booster. It would have been nice to do it a little earlier in the game when they still had some strength left in their legs to be able to finish it off, but I think they were a little dead.”

Kolendo provided the game-winner when he managed to get a stick on the puck as a huddle of players from both teams were pushed toward Houston goalie Ben Barenburg and the Hawks net.

Belanger put the Knights on the scoreboard early in the game, when he broke free and slipped a nifty backhander past Barenburg. Five minutes later in the first, McJimsey – sitting in the slot – one-timed a Trevor Naylor pass to put the Knights up two goals. In the second, Cline sent a shot in from the point that found its way past Barenburg. Savel stopped 24 Houston shots to score the win in the Colony net. Barenburg recorded 28 saves for Houston. The game marked the second meeting of the season for the Valley rivals. Colony skated to a 4-2 win over Houston during the first weekend of the season.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.

Colony 4, Houston 3

Menard Memorial Tournament

Friday, Menard Arena

First period – 1. Colony- Belanger (unassisted) 1:31;

2. Colony- McJimsey (Naylor) pp 6:05. Second period – 3. Colony- Cline

(McJimsey) 11:53. Third period – 4. Houston- Humphreys (Lipse, Styers) pp

10:09; 5. Houston- Thistle (Lipse) 9:00; 6. Houston- Humphreys (Styers)

7:54; 7. Colony- Kolendo (Belanger, Boyer) 4:49. Shots on goal: Colony

11-12-9—32, Houston 6-9-12—27; Saves: Colony- Savel 6-9-9—24, Houston-

Barenburg 9-11-8—28.