Wolfpack skate past Knights in 4th-place game

WASILLA — Colony head coach Jamie Smith’s postgame speech to his Knights Saturday afternoon was fairly simple.

“Get to work.”

Smith’s Knights capped their 2015-16 season with a 7-0 loss to West Valley in the fourth-place game of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Hockey Championships. Instead of fixating on the seven-goal defeat, Smith is looking toward the future of a program that will graduate only three seniors and return 11 underclassmen already playing on the varsity level.

Seven of those underclassmen are sophomores.

“I told those sophomores, (playing West Valley) is like playing you in two years,” Smith said. “Having 16-year-olds play against 18-year-olds is a big difference.”

And that difference was apparent, judging by the work of West Valley’s top forward line, a unit made up of seniors Caleb Moretz, Gabe Rankin and Stoshie Skorulski. The group factored into all seven of West Valley’s goals. Both Moretz and Rankin netted a hat trick each. Skorulski finished with three assists. Rankin also had three assists, to complete his six-point effort. Moretz added a helper.

That work combined with senior Lane Wood’s 27-save shutout helped West Valley finish fourth in the 4A bracket.

West Valley entered the tournament heralded as one of the top-2 teams in the tournament, with a 16-2-0 regular-season record, but was upset by Eagle River 2-1 in the first round. The Wolfpack followed the loss by winning a pair of games by a combined score of 14-1.

“In my eyes, that’s the best team in the state, no doubt about it,” Smith said of the Wolfpack, which finished as the 4A runner-up in 2015.

The Knights had the misfortune against lining up against two of the top teams in the tourney. Colony opened the tournament with a 4-0 loss to defending state champion West Anchorage in the first round. The Knights sandwiched the losses with an 8-1 victory over Juneau-Douglas.

Despite the losses, Smith said there are many positives to take from the experience.

“I actually feel pretty good about the game. Almost 30 shots on net, and we did some good stuff,” Smith said.

Overall, Smith said he’s excited for the future of a program that is expected to return all but three varsity players. The Knights also earned their second straight region title in 2016.

Knights bury Bears

WASILLA — The Colony Knights got off to a slow start during the opening day of the 4A state tournament, suffering a 4-0 loss to West Anchorage on Thursday.

That slow start seemed to carry over, at least early, on Friday.

But after a scoreless first period, Colony exploded for a half-dozen second-period goals, and the Knights coasted to an 8-1 victory over Juneau-Douglas during the consolation semifinal round of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Hockey Championships at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.

Otto Thiele bagged a hat trick in the second frame, and added two assists in the game, to help the Knights move into the fourth-place game, where Colony will face West Valley Saturday at 11:45 a.m. at the Menard.

Jacob Kirsch added two goals in the win. Dayne Cole, Wyatt Vrana and Jake Branch also for Colony. Alex Gamez made 21 saves for the Knights.

Cole provided the first goal of the tournament for the Knights, with a shot from the right point at the 13:44 mark of the second. Less than three minutes later, Thiele scored the first of his three goals in the period.

In other action Friday, West Valley beat Soldotna 7-1 in the other consolation semifinal. Juneau and SoHi were both eliminated with the losses.

West Valley 7, Colony 0

4A fourth-place game

Saturday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. West Valley- Rankin (Ray) 5:29; 2. West Valley- Moretz (Rankin, Skolrushki) 1:40.

Second period — 3. West Valley- Rankin (Skorulshki) pp 13:40; 4. West Valley- Moretz (Pierce, Froese) 11:39; 5. West Valley- Moretz (Rankin, Woods) 9:00.

Third period — 6. West Valley- Saveriede (Rankin, Skorulski) 7:15; 7. West Valley- Ranking (Moretz, Lees) pp 1:57.

Shots on goal: Colony 6-6-15—27, West Valley 19-17-9—45; Saves: Colony- Diltz 17-5-x—22, Gamez x-9-7—16.

Colony 8, Juneau-Douglas 1

4A consolation semifinals

Friday, Menard Arena

First period — no scoring.

Second period — 1. Colony- Cole (Thiele) 13:44; 2. Colony- Colony- Thiele (Smith) 10:10 3. Colony- Vrana (Shotenski) 8:04; 4. Juneau- Leibelt (Corrigan) 7:53; 5. Colony- Thiele (Havel) 4:16; 6. Colony- Kirsch (Ketchum) 1:14; 7. Colony- Thiele (Havel) 0:51.

Third period — 8. Colony- Branch (Thiele, Riekena) 11:07; 9. Colony- Kirsch (Eller) 9:38.

Shots on goal: Juneau 5-9-8—22, Colony 11-8-8—27; Saves; Juneau- Farley-Robinson 11-2-x—13, Dostol x-x-6—6; Colony- Gamez 5-7-8—21.