Knights finish 3rd in state hockey tourney

WASILLA — Colony fell just short of a spot in the state title game. But the Knights capped their season with a victory.

Colony rebounded from a 2-1 loss to Dimond in the semifinals and posted a 6-3 victory over rival Wasilla in the ASAA First National Cup Division I third-place game Saturday afternoon at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.

“It was definitely good to end it off right,” Colony senior Jake Hessinger said after the victory.

Dimond used a late goal to top Colony on Friday, a night after the Knights scored a 5-4 triple-overtime win over South Anchorage. Hessinger said the Knights felt the effects of Thursday’s three extra periods of hockey when they hit the ice the following night.

“I was pretty tired. That game wore us out pretty good,” Hessinger said.

But regardless of what happened Friday, Hessinger said they Knights wanted to finish strong.

“I still feel we ended it off with a good season,” Hessinger said.

The Knights used five second-period goals to bounce back from a 3-1 deficit. The Knights scored three times on the power play, twice with the two-man advantage.

“Our power play came back to us,” Colony head coach Jamie Smith said.

Hessinger said the Knights struggled on the power play during Colony’s 4-3 loss to Wasilla last week in the North Star Conference title game in Soldotna.

“We capitalized on the power play. We couldn’t do it at regions, but we did it tonight,” Hessinger said.

Colony also scored three times during the final 3:41 of the second period.

“I think that definitely changed the momentum of the game,” Hessinger said. “That was huge.”

Cooper Smith led the Knights with a hat trick in the win. Hessinger added two goals and two assists.

Trailing 3-1, Hessinger scored with the two-man advantage to cut Wasilla’s lead to a goal. Exactly one minute later, Smith scored on the power play to tie the score at 3.

Junior Mitchell Diltz provided the go-ahead goal with 3:41 left in the second. Diltz led a 2-on-1 up the right side of the ice, and tucked a shot just inside the left post to give the Knights a 4-3 advantage, their first lead of the game. Hessinger and Smith added goals within a 43-second span late in the middle frame to extend Colony’s lead to 6-3.

Porter Schachle gave Wasilla the first lead of the game at the 7:18 mark of the first. Schachle stormed up the left side of the ice, cut across the face of the crease and slipped a backhander into the net. Later in the period, Smith tied the game with Colony’s first of two 5-on-3 goals in the win.

Senior Hayden Masterson fired a shot from the point on a Wasilla power play early in the second to give the Warriors the lead back. Just more than a minute later, Dillon Matson redirected a Lucas Gudz shot from the point to push Wasilla’s advantage to 3-1.

With the win, Colony finished third for the second straight year.

“It’s outstanding for these guys,” Jamie Smith said.

Wasilla finished in fifth place. The Warriors opened their state tournament with a 4-3 overtime victory over Service, but suffered a 4-1 loss to West Anchorage in the semifinals.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sport@frontiersman.com.

Colony 6, Wasilla 3

ASAA First National Cup third-place game

First period — 1. Wasilla- P. Schachle (Engan) 7:18; 2. Colony- Smith (Hessinger) pp 4:10.

Second period — 3. Wasilla- Masterson (P. Schachle, D. Carney) pp 12:30; 4. Wasilla- Matson (Gudz, Roush) 11:21; 5. Colony- Hessinger (Evans, Korynta) pp 9:15; 6. Colony- Smith (Riekena) pp 8:15; 7. Colony- Diltz (Korynta, Ka. Ketchum) 3:41; 8. Colony- Hessinger (Ko. Ketchum) 1:26; 9. Colony- Smith (Hessinger, Ka. Ketchum) 0:23.

Third period — no scoring.