Knights, Warriors skate to tie

WASILLA — The Colony Knights and Wasilla Warriors opened the North Star Conference hockey season with a 2-2 tie Friday at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.

Colony outshot Wasilla 36-13 in the game, but Warriors goaltender Kiana Verplancke made 34 saves to help preserve the tie. Joey Diltz stopped 11 shots for the Knights.

Luke Schruf bagged a pair of goals for Wasilla. Schruf scored with 26 seconds left in the first period to give the Warriors the 1-0 lead. He added another goal 56 seconds into the second period.

Cody Butcher recorded an assist on both goals.

The Knights used a pair of second-period goals to tie the score. Steven Kempinski scored on the power play to put the Knights on the scoreboard at the 8:22 mark of the second. Less than a minute later, Otto Thiele scored for the Knights to tie the score. Kempinski recorded an assist.

Saturday, Colony improved to 1-0-1 with a 4-1 win over Lathrop. Wasilla is now 0-1-1 after the tie.

Colony 2, Wasilla 2

Friday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Wasilla- Schruf (Marks, Butcher) 0:26.

Second period — 2. Wasilla- Schruf (Butcher, Whitlatch) 14:04; 3. Colony- Kempinski (Mitchell, Boyer) pp 8:22; 4. Thiele (Kempinski) 7:55.

Third period — no scoring.

Shots on goal: Colony 9-15-9-3—36, Wasilla 4-4-3-2—13; Saves: Colony- Diltz 3-3-3-2—11; Wasilla- Verplancke 9-13-9-3—34.