Second-period explosion paces Wasilla over Colony

WASILLA — As Wasilla head coach Bill Sturdevant watched his team during the first 15 minutes Tuesday afternoon, he wasn’t seeing the squad he’s used to.

Despite firing 14 shots on goal, the Warriors fell behind quickly and skated into the intermission down 2-0. But in the second period, Wasilla rebounded with four goals which helped the Warriors grab a 6-3 win over the Colony Knights at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena.

“We weren’t playing in the first period like we needed to play,” Sturdevant said. “I don’t think anyone in the room doubted they came back. But also we knew, if you spot a team like Colony, who is definitely turned around from previous years, you can’t count them out.”

Defenseman Michael Johnston scored a pair of goals during the second frame to help the Warriors score the come-from-behind win over their rival. Tim Workman and Zach Korsmo also scored for the Warriors in the second.

Workman and Mike Edwards iced the win for the Warriors with second-period goals.

Colony used a pair of special teams goals to take the 2-0 lead during the first five minutes of play. Kevin Hartley popped a puck in the net on a Knights power play to give Colony the early lead less than three minutes in. Later in the period, with the Warriors skating with the advantage, senior Daryl Belanger picked off a puck at the Wasilla blue line and raced to the net for the shorthanded breakaway goal.

“Colony jumped on our mistakes,” Sturdevant said. “We had two uncharacteristic turnovers and they made us pay.”

Johnston sparked the Wasilla comeback, scoring with a shot from the point early in the second.

Almost immediately after Johnston’s goal, Alex Svoboda crashed the net and knocked in the rebound of a Stephen Tobin shot to give the Knights the 3-1 lead. But Colony’s two-goal advantage wouldn’t last long.

Wasilla scored twice in the next 90 seconds to tie the game at 3. Workman crashed the net and knocked a puck past Colony goalie Forrest Savel at the 9:25 mark to bring the Warriors within one. Korsmo, standing strong at the doorstop to the left of the net, scored 59 seconds later to tie the score.

Wasilla outshot Colony 43-23 in the win. Savel made 37 saves for the Knights. Sophomore Zach Eastham stopped 20 pucks for the Warriors.

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

Wasilla 6, Colony 3

Tuesday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Colony- Hartley (unassisted) pp 12:55; 2. Colony- Belanger (unassisted) sh 10:08.

Second period — 3. Wasilla- Johnston (Johnson) 11:51; 4. Colony- Svoboda (Tobin) 10:02; 5. Wasilla- Workman (Keene, Ch. Hanson) 9:25; 6. Wasilla- Korsmo (We. Harren, Ranson-Cederholm) pp 8:26; 7. Wasilla- Johnston (Ch. Hanson) 4:22.

Third period — 8. Wasilla- Workman (unassisted) 12:29; 9. Wasilla- Edwards (unassisted) en 0:12.

Shots on goal: Wasilla 14-19-10—43, Colony 8-4-11—23; Saves: Wasilla- Eastham 6-3-11—20, Colony- Savel 14-15-8—37.