Penalties kill

WASILLA — Before the Colony Knights stepped on to the ice to face the Kenai Central Kardinals on Thursday, Colony head coach Dan Belanger told his squad, the only team that’s going to beat the Colony Knights is the Colony Knights.

Kenai took advantage of 11 Colony third-period penalties, scored three times in the final frame and posted a 5-2 win over the Knights during the first round of the North Star Conference tournament at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

“We let ourselves beat ourselves,” Belanger said after the loss, which ends the Knights’ 2008-09 season.

Colony was tagged with six minor infractions, one major and four misconducts during the final 15 minutes of play, and Kenai scored a trio of special teams goals during the third to earn the right to face top-seeded Palmer tonight during the NSC semifinals.

“We’re so evenly matched with Colony, whoever’s in the penalty box the least has the advantage,” Kenai head coach Pete Iverson said.

Kenai finished with nine penalties for 18 minutes, but it was the Knights who spent the most time in the box. Colony finished with 17 penalties for 69 minutes. Only six of those calls came in the first two periods.

While some of his team’s penalty woes can be attributed to frustration, Belanger said he knows the Knights needed to show a little more restraint on the ice.

“They get out there and feel like sometimes things aren’t going their way, and it gets under their skin,” Belanger said. “But they’ve got to control themselves and realize their actions are going to be what keeps the game going or not going.”

The Knights held the early lead in the contest, thanks to Kevin Boyer’s goal at the 4:30 mark of the first. Colony senior Angelo Bellotte grabbed the puck in transition and shoved it forward to Boyer, who had open space and only one man to beat. As Kenai’s lone blueliner back skated toward Boyer, the Colony forward moved by and flipped the puck into the far side of the Kenai net.

“It was a good start,” Belanger said. “Things were going good.” Kenai tied the score in the final minutes of the first when forward Ryan Fusaro found the back of the net with 1:38 remaining. Kenai’s Dominick Eubank picked up the puck behind the Colony net and sent a quick, centering pass to Fusaro, who beat Colony goalie Forrest Savel low and on the stick side.

Dylan Hendricks scored the first of Kenai’s three power play goals late in the second period to give the Kards the 2-1 advantage, but much of Kenai’s damage was done on special teams in the third.

Early in the third period, Brady Perkins cashed in on a Kenai 5-on-3 chance to give the Kards the 3-1 lead.

“It took them a while to settle down, but they started working the power play and started taking advantage of the opportunities,” Iverson said.

Colony was able to answer Perkins’ goal almost immediately. On the ensuing face-off, with the Knights down only one man, Colony captain Lance Nezaticky beat Kenai netminder Matt Barrett to cut the score to 3-2. But that’s as close as Colony could get.

Cameron Borchgrevink scored shorthanded to give the Kards the 4-2 lead and Gradey Iverson scored midway through the period to stretch Kenai’s lead to three.

Iverson’s goal came during a delayed call. Seconds after Colony was whistled with its second penalty of the period, Iverson — who looked as if he was dumping the puck — flung a shot toward the goal and into the back of the CHS net.

Following Kenai’s fifth score, things fell apart for a Knights team that spent virtually all of the final seven minutes of the game skating shorthanded.

Kenai skated 5-on-3 for 2:30 of the final four minutes of the game. With the win, Kenai moves into the second round to face the Palmer Moose today at 5 p.m. at the Menard Arena.

“That’s going to be a tough one, but our goys are all psyched to play them,” Iverson said. “I’m happy where we’re at. The boys are gelling right now, and it’s high school hockey, anything can happen.”

Colony, the fourth seed in the tourney, is now done for the season. On the upside for the Knights, Colony will lose only two seniors to graduation. Belanger said he hopes the lessons learned this season will benefit the future of Colony hockey.

“They’ll be stronger next year, as long as they can keep their head in the game,” Belanger said.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Kenai 5, Colony 2

North Star Conference tournament

Thursday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Colony- Boyer (Bellotte) 4:30, 2. Kenai- Fusaro

(Eubanks, Perkins) 1:38. Penalties: Kenai 2-for-4, Colony 1-for-2.

Second period — 3. Kenai- Hendricks (Eubank) pp 2:35. Penalties: Kenai

4-for-8, Colony 5-for-10.

Third period — 4. Kenai- Perkins (Dougherty, Borchgrevink) pp 12:58, 5.

Colony- Nezaticky (Carter) sh 12:37, 6. Kenai- Borchgrevink (unassisted)

sh 11:40, 7. Kenai- G. Iverson (Perkins) ea 7:15. Penalties: Kenai

3-for-6, Colony 11-for-57.

Shots on goal: Kenai 5-11-5—25, Colony 11-3-3—17, Saves: Kenai- Barrett

10-3-3—15, Colony- Savel 4-10-2—16.a