Knights cap weekend with hockey win over SoHi

SOLDOTNA — After nearly 25 minutes of scoreless hockey, sophomore Jake Hessinger factored in on a pair of quick strikes to help spark the Colony Knights.

Hessinger recorded a goal and an assist during a five-second span midway through the second period during Colony’s 4-1 win over the Soldotna Stars at the Soldotna Sports Center Saturday afternoon.

With an assist from Hessinger, Cooper Smith scored at the 6:40 mark of the second period to snap the scoreless tie. Five seconds later, Hessinger bagged a goal of his own to give the Knights the two-goal lead.

Hessinger finished with a goal and two assists to help Colony cap an undefeated weekend, and improve to 3-0 in North Star Conference play. Foster Riekena and Cy Eller also scored for the Knights.

Colony outshot SoHi 39-21 in the contest, and Knights goalie Joey Diltz made 20 saves in the win.

SoHi scored its lone goal, a Cameron Knowlton tally, with only 48 seconds left in the game.

Friday, Dayton Cole notched a goal and an assist to lead Colony to a 3-1 win over Homer at the Kevin Bell Ice Arena.

Alexander Gamez stopped 17 shots in the victory. The Knights jumped to an early lead with two goals in the first, and Cole iced the game with a late empty-netter.

The Knights opened up their three-day weekend Thursday with a Northern Lights Conference win over the Kardinals at the Soldotna Sports Complex.

Tyler Shotensky scored the opening goal for Colony and added two assists to lead the Knights. Kolten Ketchum, Bradley Amato, Hessinger and Cole each scored as well for Colony.

Levi Mese scored the lone goal for Kenai.

“We played darn well,” said Kenai coach Michael Tilly. “I wasn’t disappointed at all tonight.”

Diltz saved 20 of 21 shots on goal for Colony, while Ryan Williams stopped 25 of 30 shots for Kenai.

Colony coach Jamie Smith said with such an important weekend ahead for the six conference teams, he employed several younger players that haven’t seen much varsity time on ice, which resulted in much-needed experience which he hopes will pay dividends.

“We have a lot of younger guys, and they came up big for us,” Smith said. “The conference is tight, and when it comes to the season-ending tournament, anything can happen.”

Kenai opened the game with a rather even first period of play, matching Colony in intensity and battles for the puck, but 8:33 into the game, Shotensky received the puck from teammate Wyatt Vrana behind the net, and shoveled in the opening goal.

Kenai came tantalizingly close to equalizing just over two minutes later, but a perfectly-timed pass from Jacob O’Brien that hit Ian Mercado in stride glanced off the right post. Ketchum put Colony ahead 2-0 with 2:38 to play in the first period on a long range shot that slipped by Williams.

Amato’s score came 4:06 into the second period of play, putting the Knights ahead by three, but Kenai finally found its moment with 4:16 to go in the frame. A Kenai attack by Matt Hagel and a Colony defender left the puck sitting in the crease, directly in front of Diltz, who was not fast enough to cover it before Mese lifted it into the net for a Kardinals goal.

The momentum would not last, however, as Colony struck on two power play goals in the third period, one coming just 24 seconds into the man-advantage by Hessinger, and the other on a 5-on-3 power play by Cole. Both goals came on shots from the left faceoff circle, which proved to be a weakness for Kenai.

“We had a couple shifts that saw a change in energy, and when we got scored on, a few of them get frustrated, they get emotional and they commit silly penalties,” Tilly said about having to deal with late penalty kills. “The good thing is mistakes that we had tonight can be fixed at this level of hockey.”

Peninsula Clarion sports reporter Joey Klecka contributed to this report.

Colony 4, Soldotna 1

Saturday, Soldotna Sports Center

First period — no scoring.

Second period — 1. Colony- Smith (Hessinger) 6:40; 2. Colony- Hessinger (McLaughlin, Ketchum) 6:35.

Third period — 3. Colony- Riekena (Hessinger) 13:16; 4. Colony- Eller (Crosta) 11:16; 5. Soldotna- Knowlton (Daugherty) 00:48.

Shots on goal: Colony 11-20-8—39, Soldotna 6-5-9—20; Saves: Colony- Diltz 6-5-8—19; Soldotna- Yoder 11-18-6—35.

Colony 3, Homer 1

Friday, Kevin Bell Ice Arena

First period — 1. Colony- Griffeth (Cole, Ketchum) 12:18; 2. Colony- No. 61 (Eller) 3:39.

Second period — 3. Homer- Roberts (No. 3) 6:49.

Third period — 4. Colony- Cole (unassisted) en 00:05.

Shots on goal: Colony 7-7-10—24, Homer 4-9-5—18; Saves: Colony- Gamez 4-8-5—17, Homer- Swanson 5-7-9—21.

Colony 5, Kenai 1

Thursday, Soldotna Sports Center

First period — 1. Colony- Shotenski (Vrana) 6:37; 2. Ketchum (Shotenski, Vrana) 2:37.

Second period — 3. Colony- Amato (Smith, Ketchum) 10:54; 4. Kenai- Meese (O’Brien, No. 22) 4:16.

Third period — 5. Colony- Hessinger (Ketchum, Smith) 10:20; 6. Colony- Cole (Shotenski) 1:18.

Shots on goal: Colony 12-7-11—30, Kenai 5-8-8—21; Saves: Colony- Diltz 5-7-8—20, Kenai Williams 10-6-9--25