Knights score big win over rival Palmer

PALMER — As Colony skates through the final stretch of the regular season, it’s all about momentum for the Knights.

And Colony kept it rolling Friday night.

The Knights posted an 8-2 North Star Conference win over rival Palmer at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.

“For us, we just want to get momentum going into these last few games,” Colony head coach Jamie Smith said.

It’s momentum Colony has been riding for the last two months of the season. Since Nov. 18, the Knights are 12-1-1 in their last 14 games. That came a rough 1-6-1 start in the first eight games of the season.

“I felt like that would probably happen, especially with a young team,” Smith said.

It’s similar to last season. Colony started slow, but got on a run at midseason and skated to the North Star title.

Friday, Colony used quick bursts of scoring to bury the Moose. Midway through the first, Colony scored twice during a 19-second span to take an early 2-0 lead. Early in the second, junior Cooper Smith scored a pair of goals within eight seconds to give his team the 4-1 lead.

“I thought that was a backbreaker,” Jamie Smith said of pushing the advantage to 4-1 nine seconds after taking the 3-1 lead.

Junior Jake Hessinger led Colony with a hat trick in the win. Smith bagged a pair of goals and three assists. Senior Bryce Crosta, and sophomores Alex Fike and Tristan Avoletta also scored. Colony outshot Palmer 45-16 en route to improving to 8-1 in NSC play.

Freshman Jaron Ketterman scored both of Palmer’s goals. Late in the first period, Ketterman knocked in a rebound to cut Colony’s lead to 2-1. Ketterman also buried a penalty shot late in the game.

Palmer dropped to 3-5-1 in conference play. Palmer returns to the ice Thursday to host Wasilla at 7 p.m. at the MTA Events Center. Colony and Wasilla meet Friday at 7 p.m. at the Brett Arena.

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

Colony 8, Palmer 2

Friday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Colony- Crosta (Thiele) 7:37; 2. Colony- Hessinger (Smith, Ketchum) 7:18; 3. Palmer- Ketterman (Rosenberg, Keil) 3:54.

Second period — 4. Colony- Smith (Avoletta) 12:16; 5. Colony- Smith (Hessinger) 12:08; 6. Colony- Fike (Thiele, M. Diltz) 0:01.

Third period — 7. Colony- Hessinger (Smith) 11:42; 8. Colony- Avoletta (Evans) pp 9:08; 9. Colony- Hessinger (Smith, Evans) 3:48; 10. Palmer- Ketterman (penalty shot) 0:20.

Shots on goal: Palmer 7-4-7—18, Colony 14-15-16—45, Saves: Palmer- Grogan 12-12-13—37, Colony- J. Diltz 6-4-6—16.