Knights blast Kenai in first round of NSC hockey tourney

PALMER — Throughout its first-round win over Kenai Central, Colony spent large chunks of time meticulously moving the puck back and forth across the Kardinals defensive zone.

That led to 54 shots and five goals during a 5-0 win over the Kards during the first day of the North Star Conference Championships, Thursday in Wasilla.

Five different players scored in the win to help the Knights move ahead to meet rival Palmer tonight at 5 p.m. in the semifinals.

Five different scorers also helped Colony strike against Kenai’s sturdy goaltender, Nate O’Lena. The senior finished with 49 saves in the game, and stopped at least 15 shots in every period. He had 18 saves in the first.

The Knights scored twice during a one-minute span early in the first period to take the lead. With just more than 12 minutes left in the first period, Cooper Smith knocked in the rebound of a Jake Hessinger shot to give the Knights the 1-0 advantage. Less than a minute later, Jake Branch reached for a loose puck between the circles, and snapped a shot high into the net.

Both of Colony’s second-period goals came on the power play. Jacob Link scored with the advent with 13:03 left in the second to push Colony’s lead to three goals. Logan Sanders added a power-play tally with 35 seconds left in the period.

Cole Bloomer rounded out the scoring for the Knights, adding a goal with 2:57 left in regulation.

Tonight will mark the fourth meeting of the season between Colony and rival Palmer. The teams split a pair of conference games within a four-day span. Six different players scored during a 6-1 Knights win over the Moose in the teams’ first conference meeting of the season. Four days later, Palmer goaltender Cody Grogan made 31 saves to help the Moose edge Colony 1-0.

Colony is the tournament’s No. 3 seed. Palmer is the No. 2 seed. Top-seeded Wasilla plays either Homer or Soldotna tonight at 7:15 p.m. Results of the Homer-Soldotna match were not available prior to press time.

Colony 5, Kenai Central 0

North Star Conference quarterfinals

First period — 1. Colony- Smith (Hessigner, Kempinski) 12:06; 2. Colony- Branch (unassisted) 11:18.

Second period — 3. Colony- Link (Boyer, Sanders) pp 13:03; 4. Colony- Sanders (Foster, Boyer) pp 0:35.

Third period — 5. Colony- Bloemer (Eller) 2:57.

Shots on goal: Colony 20-17-17—54, Kenai 2-6-5—13; Saves: Colony- Diltz 2-6-5–13, Kenai- O’Lena 18-15-16—49.