Knights, Warriors drop the puck on '02 season

FAIRBANKS -- A pair of first year coaches saw similar results during the open weekend of prep hockey.

Colony and Wasilla ventured north to each take on a trio of Fairbanks schools, Nov. 7-9.

The Knights and the Warriors squared off against the varsity squads from North Pole, Lathrop and West Valley at the Big Dipper Ice Arena in Fairbanks over the weekend.

The games marked the first appearance of rookie head coach Dale Mattson on the Colony bench and Eric Troisi on the Wasilla bench.

Mattson replaced Troisi as Colony's head coach after the former Knight mentor took the head coaching position with the Warriors.

Troisi and Mattson saw both a little bit of good and a little bit of not so good in the 2002-03 debut of their clubs.

Each team dropped a tough decision to Lathrop and perineal Alaska hockey power, West Valley. Colony came from behind to beat North Pole, while Wasilla was edged by the Patriots.

The Knights scored the lone win for the Valley schools during the weekend with a 6-5 come-from-behind victory over the North Pole Patriots.

Colony fell behind 4-0 and 5-2 before scoring four goals in the final five minutes of the game to notch the win.

Chris Crosta led the Knights in the comeback. The Colony skater not only notched a hat trick, but he won countless face-offs and repeadedtly fed his Knight teammates with precision passes.

Crosta scored his second goal of the game to make the score 5-3 North Pole.

Minutes later Crosta and Doug Lehe scored 39 seconds apart to give Colony the advantage. Crosta's third goal was the game winner.

The Knights outshot the Patriots 52-17 in the contest.

The Knights dropped a 11-3 decision to Lathrop and a 9-1 decision to West Valley over the weekend.

First year goalie Allan Markus certainly experienced baptism by fire.

"He has the toughest job on the ice," Mattson said of his netminder.

Markus did show the ability to be a solid stopper for the Knights during the first two periods of Colony's contest against West Valley.

"He kept us in their for the first two periods," Mattson said. "His experience level showed in the third."

Mattson and the Knights trailed just 3-1 after two periods, before the Wolfpack were able to score a barrage of goals during the final frame.

The Warriors led 1-0 throughout a great portion of their contest with North Pole on Saturday, but were unable to seal the win.

The Patriots scored a trio of unanswered goals to take the 3-1 victory.

"They just outworked us," Troisi said. "We were not prepared mentally. We are not used to winning games."

The Warriors were shut out 10-0 by West Valley in their first game of the road trip and were edged by Lathrop 4-3 on the following night.

"We have a lot of young kids playing. There are 10 freshman," Troisi said.

The Knights and the Warriors will each make their season debut at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 13, squaring off against one another.