Knights win Big Lake Lions Classic

BIG LAKE — The Colony Knights continued their torrid start to the 2014-15 hockey season posting three convincing wins during the Big Lake Lions Classic over the weekend.

Colony captured the tournament title Saturday night with a 5-1 win over the Palmer Moose.

Jacob Link scored a pair of goals to help the Knights win the eight-team tournament and improve to 10-0-1 overall. The Knights have won 10 straight games. The only blemish is a 2-2 tie against Wasilla in the first game of the season.

Jake Branch continued his stellar tourney scoring early in the first period to give the Knights the 1-0 lead. Thirteen seconds after Branch scored, Link scored the first of his two goals to give Colony the 2-0 lead.

Cole Clements scored for Palmer at the 8:44 mark to cut the Knights’ lead in half. But less than 30 seconds after Clements scored, Link struck again for the Knights to push Colony’s lead to a pair of goals once again.

Cooper Smith and Josh Boyer scored in the third period for CHS.

Colony outshot Palmer 35-11 in the game.

The Wasilla Warriors earned third place in the tournament with a 6-4 win over Juneau-Douglas.

Senior Blake Marks notched the hat trick during the Wasilla win. Marks scored his first goal in the first period to give the Warriors the 2-1 lead. He added a pair of goals, including a power-play tally, in the third.

Larsen Tubbs added a pair of goals in the win. Garrett Conroy also scored. Braden Brunnhoelzl led Wasilla with three assists.

In other action, the Colony junior varsity skated to an 11-1 win over Houston.

Cade Havel led the Knights with four goals. Jake Hessinger and Jake Branch each scored twice. Cooper Smith led CHS with four assists.

In the fourth-place game, Homer beat Hutchison 7-2.

Moose, Knights win in semis

Palmer posted a 5-2 win over rival Wasilla in the tournament’s first semifinal Friday evening.

Cole Clements scored twice for Palmer in the win. Taylor Foster, Chris Dojka and Josh Meyers also scored for the Moose.

Dojka also added three assists for Palmer.

Luke Schruf scored both of Wasilla’s goals.

Palmer took an early lead, scoring twice during the first four minutes of play. Clements opened the scoring for the Moose, giving his team the 1-0 lead. Moments later, Meyers added a power-play goal for Palmer.

Schruf used his first goal, a first-period tally, to cut Palmer’s lead in half. But Palmer struck three more times before Schruf was able to record his second goal of the game.

Palmer outshot Wasilla 45-32. Cody Grogan made 30 saves to earn the win in the Moose goal.

Defenseman Curtis Foster and forward Jacob Link each enjoyed three-point nights to help Colony score a 6-1 win over Juneau-Douglas. Link finished with two goals and an assist, while Foster bagged a goal and two helpers.

Five of Colony’s six goals were unanswered. After Oscar Jones scored on the power-play midway through the first to knot the game at 1, Colony tallied five goals in the final two periods.

Link broke the tie with just more than 10 minutes left in the second. Late in the second period, Foster gave his team a two-goal lead with a power-play goal.

Cy Eller and Josh Boyer scored third-period goals for CHS. Link scored his second goal with 1:36 left in the game. Isaac Vincent gave Colony its first lead, scoring at the 9:37 mark of the first.

In other action, Hutchison beat host Homer 6-1. Yuriy Natekin scored the lone goal for Houston.

Homer edged the Colony JV 3-2. Jake Branch and Jake Hessinger scored for Colony.