Moose win scoring frenzy

WASILLA -- A look at the final score on Wednesday and one might think Palmer and Colony played on the football field, not on the ice.

The 16 points scored in the Moose hockey squad's 10-6 win over the Knights are just three less than Colony's 12-7 win over the Moose in the state football playoffs.

The contest was a goaltender's nightmare. Colony's Logan Huppert and Nolan Rein allowed eight goals while splitting time. Palmer also scored a pair of empty netters.

Palmer netminder Kyle Berti allowed six of Colony's 39 shots to slip by.

But if it was a rough night for the goaltenders, the team's offenses had a chance to shine.

A trio of players in the game notched hat tricks and two others scored two goals.

Spencer Galvin and Kent Blaylock each scored three goals for the Moose. Ryan Pauling scored Colony's final three goals for the Knight hat trick.

Sam Roy and Alex Senta each scored twice for Palmer.

In the scoring bananza, the Moose were aided by some unusual goals.

With five minutes left in the first period, Galvin scored from just above the red line. The freshman continued to fire shots in from the blue line and beyond.

In the second period, Galvin hit the boards behind he Colony net with a slapshot from the blue line and Roy was able to tap in the rebound.

"He was firing them in probably more than we would like," Palmer head coach Brian Fish said. "We got great rebounds."

Other Moose got into the act of peppering the Colony net with hard slapshots.

Later in the second period Roy rang a slapshot off the post, and Galvin tapped in the rebound.

Dale Mattson said that the strategy of the Moose forwards was not surprising.

"They knew that our starting goaltender wasn't there," Mattson said. "If they shoot it, they might score. They got a couple of big bounces."

Though the Moose's consistent pressure with the outside shots looked planned, it was not part of the pre-game strategy.

"Every time we come out, we want to get as many shots as we can, but we got away from what we really needed to do," Fish said. "It is not the way we want to play."

Palmer took a quick 4-1 lead in the contest, led by a pair of Blaylock first-period goals.

Colony struck late in the period, scoring two goals in a 71-second span.

Scott Beckman slipped a puck past the glove of Berti to cut the score to 4-2 and Patrick Geary scored to leave the Moose with just a one-goal advantage.

Palmer and Colony each scored twice in the second, leaving Palmer with a slim 6-5 lead after two periods, but Palmer struck with four goals in the final frame to seal the win.

Roy flipped the puck over the shoulder of Huppert to give Palmer an 8-6 lead.

Senta and Blaylock scored empty netters in the final minute of the game.

Blaylock sent the puck over the heads of players from both teams and scored from the back corner of the ice. The shot looked like Blaylock used a nine iron, rather than a hockey stick to score the goal.

Huppert saw action in goal for just the second time in his career. The freshman defenseman relieved Rein and recorded 17 saves in two periods of play. The Knights are still without starting netminder Tyrel Hinkel, who is on vacation.

Random shots … Each team was 0-3 on the power play … Fourteen players in the game recorded points … Palmer improved to 2-2 on the season, Colony dropped to 2-4.