Ups and downs

WASILLA — The road through the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Hockey Tournament was nothing but a roller coaster ride for the Colony Knights.

The adventure started with an ugly 7-1 loss to Kenai Central. The weekend continued with some good and some bad during a 4-3 win over Houston. But the Knights peaked with a 7-6 overtime win over the East Anchorage Thunderbirds.

“There were so many ups and downs,” Colony head coach Jamie Smith said. “It was a good win for us tonight.”

Senior Justin Symbol scored with just less than two minutes left in overtime to lead the Knights to the victory. Senior Daryl Belanger won a battle behind the East net, sent a quick pass to Symbol, who slipped the puck by the skate of goalie Justin Luiten.

Smith said it was a great win for his players, the seniors in particular.

“We’ve got seniors on this team who have never beat an Anchorage team in their life, ever,” Smith said.

Sophomore Kevin Hartley supplied the hat trick and sophomore Trevor Naylor contributed four assists to help the Knights improve to 2-1 in the tournament and 6-3-0 this season.

Smith said the play of his younger players continues to be key for the Knights. Another sophomore, Morgan McJimsey, had a goal and an assist. Sophomore Gabriel Gamez also scored.

Smith said players also are stepping up and beginning to lead the team.

“We’re finally getting a little leadership,” Smith said. “Belanger, Naylor have stepped up. They were really good this weekend.”

McJimsey gave the Knights the early lead, taking a nifty Naylor pass and slipping the puck into the East net just less than two minutes into the first.

“It was big,” Smith said of the goal. “Then the kids were believing.”

Hartley scored the first of his three goals with 27 seconds left in the first to give the Knights the 2-0 lead. With Colony skating on the power play, McJimsey started the play with his shot from the point. The puck bounced in front of the net, with Naylor and Belanger each getting a stick on it. Hartley tapped a rebound in to give the Knights the score.

Gamez took a shot from between the circles that deflected off the skate of a East player midway through the third to give Colony the 3-0 lead.

East scored its first goal with 5:21 left in the second when Alex Jackstadt capped a T-Bird 2-on-1 with a score. But 20 seconds later, Hartley struck again for the Knights to push Colony’s lead to 4-1.

East was able to score twice during the final 3:28 of the period to slice into the Knights’ lead. Jackstadt, who also notched a hat trick in the game, beat Colony goalie Colton Beebee upper shelf. T-Bids captain Joseph Reynolds scored with 9.3 seconds left in the second.

East put 36 shots on goal during the final two periods, after putting only nine opponents on net during the first.

“We ran the trap, and that confused them a little bit,” Smith said. “The didn’t make many adjustments. They tried to run some home run plays.”

The barrage of scoring continued in a third period.

East scored twice during the first three minutes of the final frame to take its first lead of the game. Christian Luiten found a rebound at the right wing circle and fired the puck into the Knights net to tie the score at 4. Two minutes later, Kitigawa scored on the power play to give the Birds the 5-4 lead.

Hartley completed his hat trick at the 10-minute mark to tie the score at 5. With the Knights on the power play, a Naylor shot left a rebound for Hartley, who took a shot from the left circle to score.

Almost immediately after Hartley tied the score, Colony took the lead when an odd bounce somehow found its way into the net. Defenseman Stephen Tobin threw the puck into the East zone, which got by East starting goalie Davis Kitagawa.

Skating with an extra attacker, East managed to tie the score with just 20 seconds left in the game. Jackstadt scored for the third time to force overtime.

Both teams used two goalies during the contest. Davis Kitagawa started for the Birds, and allowed six goals on 26 Colony shots. The Tobin goal chased Kitagawa from the East net. Justin Luiten, in relief, allowed one goal on four Knights shots.

Beebee and Forrest Savel both saw action for Colony. Beebee, making his first career start, made 29 saves. Savel, a junior, stopped 16 of the 17 shots he saw during the third period and overtime.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com. Follow him at Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.

Colony 7, East Anchorage 6 OT

Menard fourth-place game

Saturday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Colony- McJimsey (Naylor) 13:09; 2. Colony- Hartley (Naylor, Belanger) 0:27.

Second period — 3. Colony- Gamez (Hartley, Naylor) 8:14; 4. East- Jackstadt (Reynolds) 5:21; 5. Colony- Hartley (McJimsey, Naylor) 5:01; 6. East- Jackstadt (Butts, Hayes) 3:28; 7. East- Reynolds (Jackstadt, K. Kitagawa) 0:09.

Third period — 8. East- C. Luiten (Jackstadt, Reynolds) 14:12; 9. East- K. Kitagawa (Reynolds) 12:19; 10. Colony- Hartley (Belanger, Naylor) 10:01; 11. Colony- Tobin (unassisted) 9:56; 12. East- Jackstadt (K. Kitagawa, Butts) 0:20.

Overtime — 13. Colony- Symbol (Belanger) 2:22.

Shots on goal: East 9-17-19-1—46, Colony 9-8-11-2—31; Saves; East- D. Kitagawa 7-6-7-x—20, J. Luiten x-x-2-1—3; Colony- Beebee 9-14-1—23, Savel x-x-15-1—16.3