Plenty of offense in Wasilla win over Valley rival

Frontiersman

WASILLA — If Thursday night was any indication, the North Star Conference Championships will be one heck of a tournament.

Wasilla secured the No. 2 seed in the upcoming conference tourney with a wild 7-5 win over the rival Colony Knights Thursday night at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

“Seven goals tonight. We haven’t scored seven goals in a while, and it was still a two-goal game,” Wasilla head coach Bill Sturdevant said after the win. “All the games this year have been close. I think it’s going to be a great tournament out in Palmer next week.”

Senior Mike Edwards scored twice, and junior Michael Johnston added a goal and two assists to help the Warriors finish their regular season as the conference’s second seed and lock up a first-round bye in the NSC Championships, which starts Thursday at the MTA Palmer Ice Arena.

After Colony grabbed an early lead, Johnston sparked a Warrior rally midway through the third.

Trailing 1-0, Johnston picked up a loose puck along the right wing boards of the Wasilla defensive zone. The crafty blueliner skated up the right side of the ice, and once he hit the right wing circle, Johnston tucked the puck under the crossbar to tie the game at 1.

“It’s huge,” Sturdevant said of the Johnston goal. “I don’t think there was any doubt on the bench after we got that first goal scored on us that we would be able to come back. A lot of times it was just a matter of when we’d get them.”

After Johnston tied the game, it took only 23 seconds for the Warriors to take the lead. Wasilla jumped ahead 2-1 when Tim Workman centered a pass from behind the Colony net to set up an Eric Johnson score.

Less than a minute later, Edwards led an odd-man rush, skated up the left side of the zone and put a shot in the far side of the net to push Wasilla’s lead to 3-1.

Johnston also set up goals in each of the final two periods. In the second, Johnston skated up the right side again and put a quick shot on goal. Colony goalie Jason Murak was able to make the save, but Wasilla sophomore Brett Keene was right there to knock in the rebound. In the third, Johnston set a beautiful behind-the-back pass to Workman, who cashed in at the 5:30 mark of the final frame.

Sturdevant noted the all-around play of Johnston, who also stepped up to play a bigger role on defense with captain Chancie Hanson seeing less playing time because of illness.

“He played a huge role tonight,” Sturdevant said of Johnston. “All the focus and the pressure fell right on Michael’s shoulders and he responded tremendously.”

Zach Korsmo also scored for Wasilla, knocking a loose puck into the net in the first period.

Sophomore Morgan McJimsey gave the Knights the early lead in the first, cashing in an odd-man rush less than two minutes into regulation. McJimsey scored twice in the game and added two assists. Junior Trevor Naylor set up three of Colony’s five goals.

Colony cut Wasilla’s lead to one goal early in the second. Sophomore Jonathan Boyer streaked up the right side of the ice and snuck a puck by the left shoulder of Wasilla freshman goalie Rhys Jones 31 seconds into the second to cut the score to 3-2. Senior captain Daryl Belanger scored on the power play with 1:51 left in the second to bring the Knights back with two goals.

Colony kept scoring in the third. Kevin Hartley found the back of the net at the 11:56 mark and McJimsey scored on the power play late in the game.

Colony will cap its regular season Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Menard Arena against Palmer. The Knights sit in fifth place of the conference with a 2-6-1 mark.

Palmer (9-0-0) and Wasilla (6-3-1) have locked up the top two seeds in the tourney, and both will receive first-round byes. Kenai, which beat Homer 3-0 on Thursday, is third at 5-4-0. Soldotna is fourth at 2-3-3, and Homer is sixth at 0-8-1.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.

Wasilla 7, Colony 5

Thursday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Colony- McJimsey (Belanger, Naylor) 13:34; 2. Wasilla- Johnston (unassisted) 8:39; 3. Wasilla- E. Johnson (Workman) 8:06; 4. Wasilla- Edwards (We. Harren) 7:16.

Second period — 5. Colony- Boyer (McJimsey, Naylor) 14:29; 6. Wasilla- Keene (Johnston) 6:18; 7. Wasilla- Korsmo (Edwards, We. Harren) 3:07; 8. Colony- Belanger (McJimsey) pp 1:51.

Third period — 9. Colony- Hartley (Svoboda, Boyer) pp 9:39; 10. Wasilla- Edwards (Korsmo) pp 9;39; 11. Wasilla- Workman (Johnston) 5:20; 12. Colony- McJimsey (Naylor, Belanger) pp 1:11.

Shots on goal: Colony 14-8-14—36, Wasilla 9-10-5—24; Saves: Colony- Murak 6-8-3—17, Wasilla- Jones 13-6-12—31.