Warriors top Knights, place 3rd in state hockey tourney

WASILLA —Skating into the fourth meeting of the season between the Wasilla Warriors and the Colony Knights, each squad sported identical 1-1-1 marks in the three prior meetings combined.

Saturday was the rubber match, and the puck bounced Wasilla’s way.

Sophomore Russell Harren bagged the hat trick to lead Wasilla to a 5-2 win over rival Colony during the third-place game of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Championships at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.

With the victory, Wasilla placed third in the state tournament for the second straight year and finished the season with a winning record against the rival Knights.

“We tied them, won one and lost one. We wanted to beat Colony and have the winning record,” said Harren, who was tabbed most valuable player of the game.

It also allowed the Warriors to bounce back from a devastating 5-1 loss to the West Valley Wolfpack in Friday’s semifinal round, a loss that left Wasilla short of a second trip to the 4A state title game in school history.

“It’s always a good thing to end on a win. That’s what the coaches talked about. We were really sad after the West Valley loss, but we really pulled together,” Harren said.

After the disappointment of the semifinal loss, Harren said the message to the team was clear.

“Our coach told us to get ready for Colony. It wasn’t a throw-away game, get our heads in it,” Harren said.

Harren, a sophomore forward, helped spark the Warriors, who found themselves trailing early. Colony senior Isaac Vincent pulled a puck off the left wing boards, skated through the circle and fired a shot high into the net to give the Knights a 1-0 lead at the 10:32 mark of the first period.

Less than two minutes later, Wasilla was able to answer with the first of the three Harren goals. Larsen Tubbs made a centering pass from the right wing to set up the chance. Harren put a shot on goal, and followed with a rebound for the score. Harren said he may have been a bit lucky on the play, with his first shot bouncing right back to him.

“It kind of bounced our way and we capitalized,” Harren said.

Tubbs also set up Harren’s second goal of the game, a breakaway with the teams skating 4 on 4. Late in the second, Tubbs fed a pass to the neutral zone. Harren took the puck, skated past the defenseman and found the back of the net to give Wasilla the 3-1 lead.

Late in the game with Colony’s goalie pulled, Harren pulled the puck off the left wing boards and fired a shot into an open goal with 28 seconds left. The empty-netter gave Harren the first hat trick of his high school career.

Garrett Conroy and Luke Schruf also scored for Wasilla. Conroy posted a power play goal early in the third period. Schruf scored with 3:04 left.

Schruf scored in each of Wasilla’s games during the tournament, and finished the state event with five goals.

Harren said it’s a good feeling to help Wasilla’s six seniors cap their high school careers with a victory. That group includes Schruf, the 2015 North Star Conference Player of the Year, and goaltender Kiana Verplancke, who earned two wins in the tournament.

“(Luke’s) a big player for us, Kiana too. I kind of feel bad getting player of the game because they’ve been carrying our team all year,” Harren said.

Harren said the Warriors certainly didn’t expect to see Colony during the state tournament. The teams came in seeded on opposite side of the bracket. With the Wasilla and Colony wins in the quarterfinals Thursday, it marked the first time since 1989 that two Valley teams reached the semifinals in the same year.

“It was a thing like we’d nudge our buddies and say, hey maybe we can meet in the finals or something. It didn’t happen like that, but we still met each other,” Harren said.

Jake Branch also scored for the Knights. With less than three minutes remaining, senior Curtis Foster sent a shot from just inside the blue line. The puck deflected off Shawn Mitchell, and Branch tipped it into the net.

Colony finished fifth in the tournament, capping a season in which the Colony made tremendous strides as a program. The weekend marked Colony’s first appearance in the state tourney since 2006. Colony scored its first victory since 2002, and its first quarterfinal win since 1996.

Colony opened tourney play Thursday with a 1-0 win over Dimond. West Anchorage beat Colony 4-2 in the semifinals.

Wasilla 5, Colony 2

4A third-place game

Saturday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Colony- Vincent (unassisted) 10:32; 2. Wasilla- Harren (Tubbs) 8:41.

Second period —3. Wasilla- Conroy (Morrison, Butcher) pp 13:03; 4. Wasilla- Harren (Tubbs) 3:28.

Third period — 5. Wasilla- Schruf (unassisted) 3:04; 6. Colony- Branch (Mitchell, Foster) 2:40; 7. Wasilla- Harren (unassisted) en 0:47.

Shots on goal: Colony 4-7-4—15, Wasilla 9-5-6–20; Saves: Colony- Diltz/Doss- 15, Wasilla- Verplancke 13.