Moose tie, Knights win, Warriors fall during first day of Palmer hockey tourney

PALMER — The Colony Knights scored five unanswered goals to post a 6-2 win over North Pole during the first day of the Palmer Hockey Showdown Thursday at the MTA Events Center in Palmer.

Senior Cy Eller scored twice to lead the Knights to the win, and help Colony improve to 3-0 overall. Jake Hessinger, Cade Havel, Jacob Kirsch and Jarek Shultz also scored for the Knights.

Hessigner gave the Knights an early lead, scoring only 59 seconds into regulation, but North Pole answered with a pair of goals in less than three minutes. Darren Donovan tied the score at the 8:58 mark of the first period, and Brandon Groesbeck gave the Patriots the lead with 6:36 left in the period.

Eller scored the first of his two goals at the five-minute mark of the first to tie the score at 2.

Four of Colony’s six goals came in the third period.

In other action, Mac Fair bagged the hat trick to lead West Anchorage to an 8-3 win over Wasilla. Max Helgeson and Jacob Cummings also scored two goals each for West.

Freshman Porter Schachle led Wasilla with a pair of goals. Garrett Conroy also scored for the Warriors. Larsen Tubbs led Wasilla with two assists.

Tournament host Palmer played Homer late Thursday night. Results were not available prior to press time. See frontiersman.com/sports for more.

The tournament continues Friday. Wasilla plays Homer at 4:45 p.m., Palmer meets North Pole at 6:30 p.m. and Colony faces West at 8:15 p.m.

Action concludes Saturday. Homer and North Pole start the final day at 9 a.m. Valley rivals Colony and Wasilla meet Saturday at 10:45 a.m. The tourney concludes with Palmer hosting West Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

Colony 6, North Pole 2

Palmer Hockey Showdown

Thursday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Colony- Hessinger (Thiele) 14:01; 2. North Pole- Donovan (Keith) 8:58; 3. North Pole- Groesbeck (Frarey) 6:36; 4. Colony- Eller (Inukai, I. Hall) 5:00.

Second period — no scoring.

Third period — 5. Colony- Havel (Branch) 14:07; 6. Colony- Kirsch (Inukai) 10:27; 7. Colony- Schultz (Simmons) 9:30; 8. Colony- Eller (Branch, Vrana) 4:33.

Shots on goal: Colony 6-11-11—28, North Pole 11-6-12—29; Saves: Colony- Gamez 9-6-x—15, Doss x-x-12—12; North Pole- Walker 4-11-7—22.

West Anchorage 8, Wasilla 3

Palmer Hockey Showdown

Thursday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. West- Cummings (Helgeson, Lottridge) 12:55; 2. West- Edwards (Fair, Bardsley) 5:52; 3. Wasilla- Conroy (Schachle, Tubbs) 0:20.

Second period — 4. West- M. Fair (unassisted) 13:10; 5. Wasilla- Schachle (Stephens, Tubbs) 9:10; 6. West- M. Fair (O. Fair) 8:05; 7. West- Helgeson (Mack) 7:21; 8. West- Cummings (Mack, Boots) 0:10.

Third period — 9. West- Helgeson (Cummings, Mack) 12:10; 10. Wasilla- Schachle (Brunnhoelzl, Harren) 8:56; 11. M. Fair (R. Hamm, D. Hamm) 5:21.

Shots on goal: Wasilla 11-6-7—24, West 10-13-5—28; Saves: Wasilla- Curry 8-9-x—17, Bess x-x-3—3; West- Saville 10-5-6—21.