Knights, Warriors win during 1st day of Palmer Hockey Showdown

PALMER — Jake Hessinger used a hat trick to help the Colony Knights open the Palmer Hockey Showdown with a 6-1 win over Lathrop Thursday afternoon at the MTA Events Center in Palmer.

Hessinger, who enjoyed a four-point day, scored three of Colony’s final four goals of the game, including a pair of in the third period. The junior forward scored shorthanded early in the second period to give his team the 3-1 lead. He added another goal 32 seconds into the third period, and finished his hat trick with an unassisted tally at the 7:59 mark of the third.

Jack Holman, Zach Monaco and Jacob Kirsch also scored for the Knights. Stephen Trujillo notched the lone Lathrop goal.

Colony outshot the Malemutes 35-13 in the win.

Wasilla also won on the opening day of the three-day round-robin event hosted by Palmer High.

Tyler Lutz and McKinley Larson each scored third-period goals to help Wasilla beat East Anchorage 4-3.

Dillon Matson and Alex Engan scored first-perod goals for the Warriors.

In the late game, Dimond used four unanswered goals to skate past host Palmer 5-1. Jaron Ketterman scored at the 4:28 mark of the first period to knot the score at 1. Garrett Ropka got the assist.

Dimond answered with two goals in each of the final two periods.

Cody Grogan made 31 saves in goal for the Moose.

Action continues with four more games Friday. Homer plays East Friday at 3 p.m. Colony and Dimond follow at 4:45 p.m. Palmer meets Lathrop Friday at 6:30 p.m. Wasilla caps Friday’s action against South at 8:15 p.m.

Saturday, Homer meets Lathrop at 9 a.m. Wasilla plays Dimond at 10:45 a.m. Colony gets South at 12:30 p.m. Palmer finshes the tournament against East Saturday at 2:15 p.m.

Colony 6, Lathrop 1

Palmer Hockey Showdown

Thursday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Colony- Holman (Vrana, Ketchum) 11:55; 2. Colony- Monaco (Hessinger, Smith) 2:12; 3. Lathrop- Trujillo (King) 0:31.

Second period — 4. Colony- Hessinger (unassisted) sh 10:52; 5. Colony- Kirsch (Avoletta, Ketchum) 0:14.

Third period — 6. Colony- Hessinger (Smith, Crosta) 14:28; 7. Colony- Hessinger (unassisted) 7:59.

Shots on goal: Lathrop 6-6-1—13, Colony 10-6-19—35; Saves: Colony- Gamez 5-6-1—12; Lathrop- Gutting 8-4-18—30.

Wasilla 4, East Anchorage 3

Palmer Hockey Showdown

Thursday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Wasilla- Matson (Schachle) 8:29; 2. East- Martinez (Ceccarelli, Eddens) 1:43; 3. Wasilla- Engen (Conroy, Lutz) 1:13.

Second period — 4. East- Eddens (Ament, Pettis) 5:07.

Third period — 5. Wasilla- Lutz (Harren) 14:11; 6. Wasilla- Larson (Jones) 5:51; 7. East- Tosi ps 0:04.

Shots on goal: Wasilla 11-7-9—27, East 8-6-5—19; Saves: Wasilla- Carney 7-5-4—16, East- Fox 9-7-7-23.

Dimond 5, Palmer 1

Palmer Hockey Showdown

Thursday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Dimond- Perius (Dearing, Maxwell) 7:41; 2. Palmer- Ketterman (Ropka) 4:88.

Second period — 3. Dimond- Maxwell (Gibson) 8:05; 4. Dimond- Gibson (Paek, Carey) 0:45.

Third period — 5. Dimond- Rath (Perius, Dearing) 14:42; 6. Dimond- Gibson (Carey, Stevens) 9:16.

Shots on goal: Dimond 12-13-11—36, Palmer 8-8-3—19, Saves: Dimond- Hildebrand 7-8-3—18; Palmer- Grogan 11-11-9—31.