Warriors earn penalty-filled win

JEREMIAH BARTZ/ Sports Editor

WASILLA - Eric Troisi spent much of the third period Friday watching his Wasilla squad through the Plexiglas behind the Warrior net. Not a normal circumstance for the head coach of a high school hockey team, but Friday's 3-1 nonconference win over the East Thunderbirds was not exactly normal.

In a game where penalties ruled the statistic sheet, a third-period melee overshadowed the game itself.

In the third period, Wasilla forward James Elkins skated hard around the crease and ran into East goaltender Nick Wise. A group of Thunderbirds, led by captain Eric Davis, stormed Elkins and sent the Warrior junior to the ice. A Thunderbird shot the puck at Elkins, after play had stopped, and other East players piled on the Wasilla player. Another Wasilla junior, Jordan Troisi, came to Elkins' aid and was involved in the struggle.

Even after players separated from the pile, referees continued to struggle with Davis until the East captain had to be escorted off the ice.

Davis, Elkins and Jordan Troisi were each handed misconducts and after questioning a referee's call following the incident, Eric Troisi was also given a misconduct.

"I was really upset that two guys were cross-checking our guy in the back of the head back there and no referee would jump in there," Eric Troisi said. "It was so slow, our guy had to come all the way across the ice and get in there.

"It should have been even," he said. "They had two guys cross-checking, we had one guy hit the goalie and one guy come in and try to stop it. It should have been even."

Eight misconducts and 100 penalty minutes were issued in the contest. East, a struggling team longing for the Scott Gomez glory days, notched 18 penalties in the game.

And with 32 total penalties in the game the power play, not surprisingly, factored into all of the scoring. The Warriors notched a power play goal in each period in the victory.

Blueliner Carl Brent gave his team the early lead, scoring in the first period. Joel Kenworthy put a slap shot on goal from the point and Brent knocked in the rebound.

Eric Zehdner took a Jeremiah Dargis pass and slipped the puck past Wise at the doorstep to give Wasilla a 2-0 lead in the second period.

Warrior freshman Adam Friese scored added a power play tally in traffic late in the third period.

Goaltender Ronnie Walker stopped 20 of 21 East shots. The Thunderbirds did not get on the scoreboard until the 6:21 mark of the third

period.

Colony 16, Palmer 0

Austin Manelick, Blake Huppert and Scott Beckman each notched a hat trick for Colony in a 16-0 win over Palmer at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena on Friday.

Beckman, also with a team-high three assists, led the Knights with six points in the game.

Tyrel Henkel stopped all 10 Palmer shots to record the shutout.