Knights score wild win over Wasilla

WASILLA — Alex Engan struck early, and again, and again, but the Colony Knights found a way to overcome the Wasilla forward’s hat trick.

Jake Hessinger and Cooper Smith each scored a pair of goals to help lead the Knights to a 6-3 North Star Conference win over the Warriors Tuesday at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

“They got a little momentum, and we kind of imposed our will on them a little when we needed to. But we need to do that all of the time,” Colony head coach Jamie Smith said after the win.

After Engan netted the first of his three early in the first, Colony answered with a pair of special teams goals later in the period. Colony cashed in on a 5-on-3 opportunity, with Hessinger sniping a shot from the right wing circle into the far side of the net midway through the first. Cooper Smith also found the net from the right wing circle later in the period, as the Knights skated shorthanded.

“We’ve got some speed up top on the penalty kill and it helps us a lot in situations like that,” Jamie Smith said.

Overall, Smith said the special teams provided a big boost for the Knights heading into the first intermission.

“It’s monster as far as momentum,” Smith said.

The rivals combined for five goals in the second period.

Colony’s Dane Jellich knocked in a rebound off Tea’jean Evans’ big shot from the top of the right wing circle to give Colony the 3-1 lead. Just more than a minute later, Engan swept in a backhand, set up by a long pass from Wyatt Moore at the blue line, to cut Colony’s advantage to 3-2.

Later in the period, Colony scored twice in a 24-second span to take a 5-2 lead. Mitchell Diltz swatted in a rebound off his own shot for a goal. On the next shift, Hessinger beat a pair of Wasilla defenders to create a short breakaway to score and give the Knights the three-goal lead.

“He’s been working really hard,” Smith said of Hessinger. “He’s such a good athlete. That’s the key piece of the puzzle with him. Get him loose, and use his athleticism.”

Colony’s three-goal advantage lasted only 25 seconds. Engan picked up a turnover right in front of the Colony net at the 3:58 mark of the second and scored his third goal of the game.

Cooper Smith added an empty-net goal with 12 seconds left in the game.

Engan’s first goal of the game, at the 12:14 mark of the first, was set up by Hayden Masterson, who pulled a puck off the back boards and centered a pass to Engan between the circles.

Wasilla outshot Colony 25-22 in the loss.

Colony goalie Cole Doss made 22 saves in the win.

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

Colony 6, Wasilla 3

Tuesday, Brett Arena

First period — 1. Wasilla- Engan (Masterson) 12:14; 2. Colony- Hessinger (Evans) pp 10:37; 3. Colony- Smith (Evans) sh.

Second period — 4. Colony- Jellich (Evans) 10:45; 5. Wasilla- Engan (Moore) 924; 6. Colony- Diltz (unassisted) 4:47; 7. Colony- Hessinger (unassisted) 4:47; 8. Wasilla- Engan (unassisted) 3:58.

Third period — 9. Colony- Smith (unassisted) en 0:12.

Shots on goal: Colony 9-7-6—22, Wasilla 8-14-3—25; Saves: Colony- Doss 7-12-3—22, Wasilla- Carney 4-x-x—4, Campbell 3-4-5—16.