Prep hockey: Warriors' way

WASILLA — Things just seemed to go the Wasilla Warriors’ way on Thursday.

Case in point — Wasilla forward Joe Barkley falls to the ice, but on his stomach, the senior still manages to sneak a pass over to Matthew Friese who scored one of Wasilla’s four third-period goals in the Warriors’ 8-1 win over the Colony Knights at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

“I got tripped up. I tried to get it to Matthew. I knew he could finish,” Barkley said after the win.

And Friese did finish — three times to be exact.

The sophomore posted a hat trick in the third period to help the Warriors cruise past their Valley rivals.

Friese posted all three of his scores in the final 10 minutes of the win. He gave the Warriors a 5-1 lead with his first score of the night, a goal set up by a Levi Johnston pass. Late in the game, Friese completed his hat trick with two goals within a seven-second span.

Just as the Valley rivals hit the final minute of the game, Barkley fell to the ice and starting sliding toward the left circle in the Colony zone. With Friese crashing toward the net, Barkley reached his stick toward the puck and shifted it over the speedy sophomore. The pass gave Friese a 1-on-1 opportunity, and he put a quick shot past Colony goalie Jason Murak.

On the ensuring shift, Friese’s older brother Adam fed him the puck and he scored his third tally of the game.

Matthew Friese nearly had a fourth in the final seconds when he rang a shot off the post of the Colony net.

Friese led the Warriors with three goals and an assist in the win.

But while Matthew Friese, the center on Wasilla’s top line, stood out late in the game, the offensive output of the Warriors’ second line was once again key to Wasilla victory.

Before assisting on Matthew Friese’s first goal, Johnston — a wing on the second line — scored twice in the first two periods to give WHS the 2-0 advantage.

Linemate Dane Wilson supplied a goal and two assists in the win, and Barkley — the third member of the unit —tallied two assists.

The Wilson-Johnson-Barkley line, a unit that has been together throughout the entire season, now has combined for 53 points this season (22 goals and 31 assists).

“We’re not the top line on the team, but we’re definitely putting in the pucks when they need to be put in,” Barkley said.

Not only have the trio been together throughout the first half of the prep season, but Barkley said the three also play on a MAHA comp hockey team together.

“We’ve been playing together since we were really little,” Barkley said.

Senior Ben Barber and freshman Trent Wohlers also scored for WHS. Adam Friese led the Warriors with three assists.

“Everybody played well out there,” said Barkley, who assisted on a pair of goals in the win. “Great passing. lots of hard hits.”

Senior Blake Huppert scored the lone goal for Colony.

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

Wasilla 8, Colony 1

Thursday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Wasilla- Johnston (Barkley, Wilson) pp 8:12.

Second period — 2. Wasilla- Johnston (Wilson) 12:56, 3. Wasilla- Barber (Ostrom) 12:16, 4. Wasilla- Wohlers (M. Friese, A. Friese) 5:42.

Third period — 5. Colony- Huppert (Breck, Paatsama) pp 14:27, 6. Wasilla- M. Friese (Johnston) 10:13, 7. Wasilla- Wilson (M. Friese, A. Friese) 5:31, 8. Wasilla- M. Friese (Barkley) sh 0:54, 9. Wasilla- M. Friese (A. Friese) 0:47.

Shots on goal: Colony 4-2-6—12, Wasilla 14-12-10—36; Saves: Colony- Holman 13-9-x—22, Murak x-x-6.

Knights sweep

Crimson Bears

JUNEAU — The Colony Knights swept a pair of nonconference games against the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears in Juneau last week.

Colony scored four goals in the third period to post an 8-1 win over the Bears on Dec. 14, and earned a win of the identical score the following night.

Blake Huppert led the Knights with a hat trick in the first win. Chris Sawyer and Chris Breck also scored two goals each.

The following night, Huppert, Breck and Risto Paatsama each scored twice.

Colony 8, Juneau-Douglas 1

Dec. 14, Juneau

First period — 1. Colony- Huppert (Paatsama) 00:15.

Second period — 2. Juneau- Mow (Carlson) 11:24, 3. Colony- Huppert (Carter) 11:08, 4. Colony- Sawyer (Thygeson) 4:45, 5. Colony- Frank (unassisted) 00:44.

Third period — 6. Colony- Huppert (Sawyer, Weeks) 14:23, 7. Colony- Breck (Huppert, Weeks) 12:50, 8. Colony- Sawyer (unassisted) 1:54, 9. Colony- Breck (Huppert) 1:45.

Shots on goal: Colony 20-18-16—54, Juneau 5-4-4—13; Saves: Colony- Holman 5-3-4—12, Juneau- Post 19-15-12—46; Penalties: Colony 4-for-16, Juneau 2-for-4.

Colony 8, Juneau 1

Dec. 15, Juneau

First period — 1. Colony- Paatsama (Breck) 14:40, 2. Colony- Weeks (Breck, Paatsama) 5:25, 3. Colony- Paatsama (Huppert) 00:53, 4. Colony- Huppert (Paatsama) 00:12.

Second period — 5. Colony- Breck (Huppert) 12:18, 6. Colony -Breck (Huppert, Weeks) 8:00,

Third period — 7. Colony- Frank (Huppert) 7:39, 8. Colony- Huppert (Frank) 7:12, 9. Juneau- Miller (Ainsworth, Mow) 1:06.

Shots: Colony 11-11-20—42, Juneau 1-3-7—11; Saves: Colony- Murak 1-3-6—10, Juneau Noreen 7-4-x—11, Cheeseman x-5-18—23; Penalties: Colony 11-for-30, Juneau 11-for-22.