Warriors fall to Kardinals

WASILLA -- The Wasilla Warriors dropped a 6-1 contest to the Kenai Kardinals on Friday at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena, but Warrior head coach Eric Troisi had many good things to say about the effort of his club.

"I am not disappointed," Troisi said. "There were a lot of good stretches of hockey. The biggest thing is we didn't score when we had the chance."

Men in the box and Kenai's play on special teams were central factors in the Kardinal win.

The teams combined for 25 penalties of the game, with Wasilla netting 12 infractions. Six different Wasilla skaters earned minor penalties in the third period alone. There was one section of the final frame where one Warrior would leave the box, and another would go in.

"We had chances when we played five-on-five hockey," Troisi said. "We can't get those when we are in the penalty box."

And Kenai found itself catching its breaks, even after it sent men to the box. The team was handed 13 penalties, but the Kardinals rebounded to score three shorthanded goals.

Kenai took a 3-0 lead on a Trevor Baldwin shorthanded tally. Charlie Smith and Cory Johnson notched consecutive shorthanded goals in the third period within a 23-second span.

Johnson's shorthanded goal completed a hat trick for the Kenai skater.

Dustin Moore also scored for Kenai.

Eric Zehdner scored Wasilla's lone goal in the contest. Fifteen seconds into a Warrior powerplay, Zehdner picked up a loose puck rebound from a Tanner Dutcher shot and put the puck past Kenai netminder Dan Silver.

Dutcher nearly had a pair of goals in the game, stealing two passes in the Kardinal zone and putting hard shots on the goal.

"That Dutcher, Zehdner (Jeremiah) Dargis line has been playing unbelievable for us," Troisi said.

Dargis was lost just one minute into the third period. The sophomore suffered an injury after he was on the receiving end of a brutal hit against the boards near the Wasilla bench. Kenai's Ryan Elliot was given a double-minor for interference on the play.

Wasilla also lost another one of its top offensive weapons, Andrew Tumbelson, earlier in the game. Tumbelson (8 goals, 12 assists -- 20 points) and Dargis (7-11--18) are Wasilla's two top scorers.