Knights pull off upset

WASILLA - While not of Olympic proportions, the Colony Knights pulled their own miracle on ice Thursday night by beating Service 4-2.

The Cougars had not lost a game since 1997, but the Knights were the team to halt Alaskas longest winning streak in hockey. They did it with patience and defense.

This is a great win for the kids, said head coach Eric Troisi. They played their hearts out and did everything it took to win. You have to give all the credit to them.

Actually, some of the credit should go to Troisi, who, after a 6-1 loss to Dimond a week ago, devised a new 1-3-1 trapping system which relies on defense and preventing the other team from getting up the ice quickly. The results have been overwhelming. Two days after losing 6-1 to Dimond, the Knights tied the Lynx 1-1. And then Thursday, the 4-2 victory over Service.

Coach put in this new system, and it worked perfectly, said defenseman and co-captain Jake Luthi. We believe in him, and he believes in us. This is exciting, beating Service when nobody thought we could. It shows everyone in Anchorage that we are for real this season.

While the neutral-zone trap worked well with Luthi and co-captain Nathan Schwartzbauer clogging the middle of the ice, it did not completely cut down Services chances. Colony goalie Greg Strohmeyer was nothing short of spectacular in net, which only added to Services frustration.

Greg came up with some huge saves, Luthi said. When we would make a mistake in the neutral zone, he would save us.

In the first period, Tenny Stevens scored with 9:10 to play. Chris Crosta and Chris Atwell assisted on the play, and Colony took the lead into the intermission.

Midway through the second period, the Cougars got their first real chance. Rod Laver streaked out of the penalty box and headed in on Strohmeyer, all alone. On the breakaway, Strohmeyer gloved the shot with the nonchalance of a fisherman batting away a mosquito. The one save seemed to lift the Knights and deflate the Cougars.

In the middle of the second period, thats when I started seeing they were frustrated, Luthi said. They started taking cheap shots and taking dumb penalties.

With 4:02 to play in the second, Adam Senta made it 2-0, but Joey Guild was the reason why. Guild came down the slot with a Cougar draped all over him. Instead of shooting the puck, Guild spun around and, with one hand on his stick, rifled a pass to Senta, who redirected it into the net.

The Knights played a disciplined game and did not take a single penalty. When the Cougars slashed, the Knights turned away, content with a 2:00 power play. That discipline paid off with :31 left in the second period.

Just 27 seconds into a power play, the Knights added to their lead. Luthi netted the third goal of the game from the left faceoff circle, giving Colony a 3-0 lead after two periods.

Troisi, pacing the Colony bench for the entire game, said he still wasnt sure about the outcome.

A lot can happen in one period, Troisi said. But the kids never left up. They played their hearts out until the final whistle.

Services Jordan Pennington tallied with 7:39 to play to cut Colonys lead to 3-1. Service controlled play for much of the third period, but the Knights managed to add to their lead on one of their very limited opportunities. Seth Reda punched the puck into the Service net with 2:16 to play, and it proved to be important as Service answered with 1:59 left. Troisi said the 4-2 victory is just what the Knights needed.

We had to beat a Dimond, a Chugiak or a Service, Troisi said. You need to do that before the state tournament to get some confidence. This is one of the biggest [victories] for our program.

Service002 2

Colony121 4

First period 1, Colony, Stevens (Crosta, Atwell), 9:10. Penalties Service 0 for 0, Colony 0 for 0.

Second period 2, Colony, Senta (Guild, Reda), 4:02. 3, Colony, Luthi (Reda), pp, :31. Penalties Service 4 for 16, Colony 0 for 0.

Third period 4, Service, Pennington (Volmer, McMullen), 7:39. 5, Colony, Reda (Senta, Guild), 2:16. 6, Service, Haugen, 1:59. Penalties Service 1 for 2, Colony 0 for 0.

Goalies Service, Thomas, 4-6-x10; Hooyer x-x-77. Colony, Strohmeyer, 11-11-1032.

Colony 11, Palmer 3

The Knights followed up their victory with an 11-3 win over Palmer Friday at Brett Memorial Ice Arena.

Colony scored seven third-period goals to put the game away.

Reda, Schwartzbauer and Luthi all scored two goals, and the Knights got single tallies from Chris Cavanaugh, Tommy Lehe, Nate Pokryfki and Guild.

For Palmer, it was the Riggs show, as Adam scored Palmers first goal and his younger brother, Eli, scored Palmers second and third goals.

Palmer111 3

Colony317 11

First period 1, Colony, Cavanaugh (Schwartzbauer, Luthi), 10:50. 2, Palmer, A. Riggs, pp, 8:51. 3, Colony, T. Lehe (Luthi, Cuzzocreo), 2:45. 4, Colony, Schwartzbauer (T. Lehe), :23. Penalties Palmer 1 for 2 minutes, Colony 1 for 2.

Second period 5, Colony, Luthi (Pokryfki), 13:57. 6, Palmer, E. Riggs (McKenzie), :09. Penalties Palmer 0 for 0, Colony 1 for 2.

Third period 7, Colony, Luthi (Schwartzbauer), 12:26. 8, Colony, Pokryfki, 10:57. 9, Colony, Schwartzbauer (Luthi, Cavanaugh), 9:16. 10, Colony, Reda (Cuzzocreo, Senta), 7:14. 11, Colony, Guild (Schwartzbauer, Pokryfki), 3:53. 12, Colony, Cavanaugh (Luthi, T. Lehe), 2:01. 13, Palmer, E. Riggs (McKenzie, Alcantra), 1:17. 14, Colony, Reda (Cavanaugh, Guild), :26. Penalties Palmer 3 for 14, Colony 3 for 6.

Goalies Palmer, Snelson, 78 saves. Colony, Rein, 10 saves.

Wasilla 4, West 2

Wasilla goalie Stephen Erdman made 47 saves in a 4-2 Wasilla victory over West Saturday, including 21 in the second period alone.

Erdman faced more shots in the second period than his team could manage in the entire game. Despite being outshot nearly 2-1, the Warriors doubled up West on the scoreboard.

Wasilla took a 2-1 lead after the first period on goals by Garrett Willis and Jon Schmelz.

In the second period, Josh Kemper tallied for the Warriors, and Willis capped off the scoring with his second goal of the game midway through the third.

Schemlz also had an assist, finishing with a two-point game along with Willis.

Wasilla211 4

West110 2

First period 1, Wasilla, Willis (Divis), 13:00. 2, Wasilla, Schmelz (Roberts), 9:35. 3, West, Aldana, 1:11. Penalties Wasilla 4 for 8 minutes, West 2 for 4.

Second period 4, Wasilla, Kemper (Schmelz), 12:58. 5, West, Smith, 9:12. Penalties Wasilla 5 for 11 (plus game disqualification), West 2 for 4.

Third period 6, Wasilla, Willis (Hagbo, Wright), sh, 5:35. Penalties Wasilla 3 for 6, West 3 for 6.

Goalies Wasilla, Erdman, 14-21-1247. West, Morgan, 5-6-718.

Referee Hoch. Linesmen Gallagher, Forrest