Special teams shine

DARRELL L. BREESE/

Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - The Colony High hockey team had its special teams unit in mid-season form Wednesday, as the Knights won the opening game of the Curtis C. Menard Memorial tournament 4-2 at the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex.

Riding the wave of three powerplay goals and killing off five extra-man advantages for Bartlett, the Knights rebounded from their season opening 7-1 loss to Service on Nov. 1.

&#8220It's a big turn-around for us,” Knights captain Ryan Pauling said. &#8220We really got beat both emotionally and on the scoreboard. Winning tonight will go a long way to erase that loss.”

Not only did the win lift the spirit of the Knights, Pauling said, it was a boost to their confidence.

&#8220Getting a win against an Anchorage team is a big deal,” Pauling added. &#8220But to score three powerplay goals and kill-off every penalty is really something.”

The Knights got on the board early in the first. Thirty-five seconds after Bartlett's Sean Rawls was sent to the penalty box for pulling Colony's Chris Breck to the ice, Blake Huppert found Pauling who broke free in front of the goal. It was the first of two goals by the Colony captain.

Pauling capitalized again when the Knights had the man advantage. He scored two minutes into the second, and 12 seconds after Colony had killed off the first of four Bartlett powerplays.

&#8220We've been working on our special teams all week,” Colony head coach Dale Mattson said. &#8220We simply reaped the rewards of all the hard work.”

Huppert added a third-period powerplay tally to seal the victory for the Knights, and send the squad to the second round of the inaugural Menard Tournament.

Colony's success on the power play impressed the Bartlett coaches nearly as much as they did Mattson.

&#8220Their spacing was good, passes crisp and they took advantage of their scoring chances,” Golden Bear coach Brian Gornick said. &#8220They finished, and we didn't.”

Mattson said the power play is where he expects his team to score this season.

&#8220We are really looking to capitalize on the power play this season,” Mattson said. &#8220We really don't have a standout goal scorer, but if we work together we should be able to score more than our share with the man advantage.”

Colony converted 3-of-5 power play opportunities.

Never trailing in the game, goalie Tyrel Henkel kept the Knight's out front by stopping 26 shots allowing just two goals.

&#8220Tyrel was on his game tonight,” Mattson said. &#8220The first goal took a bad bounce off his deflector into the net , and he was a touch late on a five-hole shot. He played really well.”

Senior Jake Graupman scored the Knights only full-strength goal, scoring with just less than two minutes remaining in the second period.

The Knights now face the winner of the Houston and Homer quarterfinal match. Results of Houston's game with Homer, and Palmer's contest with Lathrop were unavailable prior to press time.

Chugiak 4, Wasilla 3

The Warriors let a 2-0 first-period lead slip away against Chugiak in first round action at the Curtis C. Menard

II Memorial Hockey Tournament.

After Adam Frieze and Joel Kenworthy scored in the first period, the Warriors had a hiccup in the second and Chugiak's Brett Seigel made them pay.

Seigel recorded a natural hat trick in the period to lead a four-goal burst from the Mustangs.

James Elkins added a third-period goal for the Warriors, but it was not enough.

The Warriors slipped into the consolation bracket, and face either Palmer or Lathrop on Friday.

Contact Darrell L. Breese at 352-2267 or at darrell.breese@frontiersman.com.

Menard Memorial

Hockey Tournament

Colony 4, Bartlett 2

Bartlett 1 1 0 - 2

Colony 1 2 1 - 4

First Period - 1, Colony, Pauling (Huppert, Manelick), 3:59 (pp); 2, Bartlett, McDonald (Werner), 11:02. Penalties - Bartlett 2 penalties for 4 minutes; Colony 2 for 4.

Second Period - 3, Colony, Pauling (Bargelski, Breck), 2:09 (pp); 4, Colony, Graupman (Lund), 13:08; 5, Bartlett, Niemi (McAllen, Bowen), 13:54. Penalties - Bartlett 1 for 2; Colony 2 for 4.

Third Period - 6, Colony, Huppert (Manelick, Bargelski), 10:14 (pp). Penalties - Bartlett 4 for 8; Colony 2 for 4.

Goalies - Bartlett, Rawls 8-7-9-24; Colony, Henkel 6-11-7-24.

Chugiak 4, Wasilla 3

Chugiak 0 4 0 - 4

Wasilla 2 0 1 - 3

First Period - 1, Wasilla, Friese (Dargis), 1:02; 2, Wasilla, Kenworthy (Friese, Thomas), 9:22 (pp). Penalties - Chugiak 3 penalties for 6 minutes; Wasilla 0 for 0.

Second Period - 3, Chugiak, McMullen (Morse), 4:02 (pp); 4, Chugiak, Seigel (Wheeler), 4:37; 5, Chugiak, Seigel (McMullen, Wheeler) 8:31; 6, Chugiak, Seigel (Geurts), 10:37 (pp). Penalties - Chugiak 3 for 6; Wasilla 5 for 10.

Third Period - 7, Wasilla, Elkins (Johnston), 10:32. Penalties - Chugiak, 3 for 6; Wasilla 0 for 0.

Goalies - Chugiak, Yassik, 4-7-9-20 ; Wasilla, Walker, 13-4-8-25.