State hockey: Knights move into semis, Warriors fall on 1st day

WASILLA — Last week, Joey Diltz used a 43-save effort to help the Colony Knights earn its third straight North Star Conference title. Thursday, in the first round of the state tournament, the Colony senior netminder picked up right where he left off at regions.

Diltz made 33 saves to help Colony score a 4-1 win over Dimond during the quarterfinal round of the ASAA First National Cup at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.

“He stood on his head,” Colony senior Jake Kirsch said of Diltz after the victory. “He’s a great goalie. Definitely a difference-maker here.”

His efforts included 15 saves in the third-period, and he turned away a handful of quality Dimond scoring opportunities in the final minutes of the game.

“He’s lights out. He’s on fire,” Colony head coach Jamie Smith said. “He played unbelievable.”

Diltz and the Knights helped prevent a quarterfinal sweep by the Cook Inlet Conference. South Anchorage, Chugiak and Eagle River all notched wins earlier in the day. Colony became the first non-CIC team in the tournament to notch a victory. With the win, Colony moved into the semifinal round where the Knights will face Chugiak Friday at 5 p.m. at the Menard.

“It’s pretty huge. Dimond is a good team,” Kirsch said of the win. “We’ve been working all year. It’s huge to get this win. We knew we could do it. We just had to bring the right mindset.”

Diltz also helped Colony score a rare first-round win in the state hockey tournament. It’s just the third quarterfinal win in the last two decades for the Knights. Diltz was also in net the last time the Knights did it, a 1-0 victory in the 2015 quarterfinals, also against the Lynx.

With Diltz controlling play between the Colony pipes, special teams powered the Knights offense. Colony scored twice with the advantage in the win. And of the four goals in the game, none were bigger than Zach Monaco’s power-play goal with 16 seconds left in the third period.

“The third goal was gigantic,” Smith said.

Foster Riekena set up the play, sending a pass from the right wing circle, to Monaco, who buried the puck at the back side. It was Monaco’s third goal of the season, and it gave the Knights the 3-1 lead at the tail end of the second period.

Junior Jake Hessinger, who is tied for the team-lead with 22 goals, scored twice during the win. Earlier in the second period, with the Knights also on the power play, Hessinger put a wrister from the right wing circle high into the net to push Colony’s advantage to 2-0.

In the third period, Cooper Smith controlled the rebound off his own shot, circled the back of the Dimond net and centered a pass to Hessinger, who scored top-shelf to give the Knights the 4-1 lead.

Colony took a lead late in the first with a Kirsch goal, his 22nd of the year. Senior Otto Thiele led a 3-on-1 rush up the left side of the ice and dropped a pass to a trailing Kirsch, who buried a shot top shelf with 32 seconds left in the first period.

Jaiden Gibson scored the lone goal for Dimond.

Next up now for Colony is Cook Inlet Conference champion Chugiak, which blew past Juneau-Douglas 7-2 in the first round.

“We’ve got a monster (Friday). It’s big. Chugiak is the best team,” Smith said. “We’ve got to come out, be tactical and have good goaltending.”

Thursday’s match also marked a meeting between Alaska’s top two coaches on the career wins list in prep hockey. Smith earned the 381st win of a career that dates back to 1990. Longtime Dimond mentor Dennis Sorenson holds the state record with 512 career victories.

Wolves skate past Warriors

Eagle River spoiled Wasilla’s hope to move forward in the bracket, scoring a 6-2 win over the Warriors during the 4A quarterfinals.

Both of Wasilla’s goals came late in the contest. Tyler Lutz slapped a puck off the back boards, and Alex Clark buried a shot off the bounce with 2:20 left to play to put the Warriors on the scoreboard. Less than a minute later, defenseman Dylan Abbott sent a pass from the left side of the ice to senior Russell Harren, who scored from the right wing circle.

The Wasilla goals followed a flurry of scoring by Eagle River. Six different players found the back of the net for the Wovles. Joshua Linn, Sutton McDonald, Ty McEnaney, Aiden Burton, Ben Rinckey and Logan Dudinsky all scored for Eagle River, which advanced to the semifinal round to face South Anchorage Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Freshman goalie Ryan Gray made 18 stops for the Wolves, six in each period.

In other action, Chugiak beat Juneau 7-2 and South blanked West Valley 3-0.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Colony 4, Dimond 1

4A state quarterfinals

Thursday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Colony- Kirsch (Thiele) 0:32.

Second period — 2. Colony- Hessinger (Smith, Thiele) pp 7:47; 3. Dimond- Gibson (Deering) 5:15; 4. Colony- Monaco (Riekena) pp 0:16.

Third period — 5. Colony- Hessinger (Smith) 5:35.

Shots on goal: Dimond 9-10-15—34, Colony 10-11-6—27; Saves: Dimond- Stevens 9-9-5—23, Colony- Diltz 9-9-15—33.

Eagle River 6, Wasilla 2

4A state quarterfinals

Thursday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Eagle River- J. Linn (Rachow) 7:27; 2. Eagle River- S. McDonald (J. Linn, C. McDonald) pp 1:37.

Second period — 3. Eagle River- McEnangey (C. McDonald) pp 0:43.

Third period — 4. Eagle River- Burton (C. McDonald, Silance) 13:34; 5. Eagle River- Rinckey (J. Linn, C. McDonald) 11:22; 6. Eagle River- Dudinsky (Burton) 10:09; 7. Wasilla- Clark (Jones, Lutz) 2:20; 8. Wasilla- Harren (Abbott, Stephens) pp 1:14.

Shots on goal: Eagle River 9-7-6—22, Wasilla 6-6-8—20; Saves: Eagle River- Gray 6-6-6—18, Wasilla- Campbell 7-6-1—14, Carney x-x-2—2.