Anchorage Daily News

A lead may never be safe for teams facing West's top line of Casey Bailey, Cory Coles and Cooper Street in boys high school hockey this season.

Service found that out the hard way Tuesday night as the Eagles stormed back from a two-goal deficit in the third period and beat the Cougars 5-4 in a Cook Inlet Conference game at Ben Boeke Arena.

West's three-headed monster combined for all five goals and six assists to rack up 11 total points and help the Eagles (6-2-0 overall, 2-0-0 CIC) capture their fourth straight win.

"When it comes to offense, (Bailey, Coles and Street are) who we count on," West coach Jeff Carlson said. "They're really the catalyst for this team."

Coles enjoyed a career-best four goals, including the game winner with 5:22 to go in regulation. The play started when Bailey's slap shot from the left circle ricocheted off the pads of Service goalie Cody Gongora. The puck bounced in front of Coles' skate and he punched it in to put West ahead.

"I just let Bailey take his shot and waited for the rebound," Coles said. "It popped out right at me."

He never would have expected to finish with four goals after the way he performed over the Thanksgiving break.

He traveled to Chicago with his U-18 competitive team for a holiday tournament. The team came home without a win (0-4) and Coles without a point and a broken hockey stick.

But he made up for it Tuesday against the Cougars (5-3-0, 2-1-0), playing with a new stick -- and an athletic cup he had to borrow from a teammate (Coles forgot his at home).

Before Tuesday's scoring spree, he'd never even scored a hat trick in high school. He said the timing was perfect.

"We needed that win," Coles said. "We beat 'em once and lose to them the second time. So when the third game comes around, we put 'em down and gain some confidence."

The Eagles were down 4-2 when Service's Trace Strahle beat his defender and backhanded a shot over Blake Mendenhall's right shoulder at 3:28 into the third period.

Strahle's sixth goal of the season seemed to give Service the edge. But all it did was fire up West's top line guys.

"I saw it coming," said Service coach Keith Morris, who wasn't pleased with Monday's practice. "Four goals is good enough to win, but defensively we weren't good enough and we made a lot of mental mistakes in our defensive zone.

"When you do that against good players, you're not going to have success. (West's) top line is as good as any line in high school hockey, and we paid the price."

Less than a minute after Strahle's goal, Bailey fed Cole an assist to cut Service's lead in half. Five minutes later, Cole passed the puck to Bailey, who then slapped it through traffic from just inside the blue line and forged the 4-4 tie.

"Our line just seemed to click in the third period," said Bailey, who is tied with Coles for a conference-best 14 goals.

Mendenhall turned away 35 shots for the win in goal and improve to 5-2 on the season.

The CIC victory was sweet for West, which was knocked out of the state playoffs by Service last season. Coles, Bailey and Street could be the extra punch the Eagles need to make another strong run.

"Our team's gonna go as far as they do," West coach Jeff Carlson said.

Find Kevin Klott online at adn.com/contact/kklott or call 257-4335.

West 1 1 3 -- 5

Service 2 1 1 -- 4

First Period -- 1, Service, Hansen (Vivian, Lahti), 0:21; 2, West, Coles (Bailey, Hanson), 3:42 (pp); 3, Service, Donlan (Vivian, Guzman), 14:30 (pp). Penalties -- West 4 penalties for 8 minutes; Service 2 for 4.

Second Period -- 4, West, Coles (Bailey), 5:49; 5, Service, Trupp (unassisted), 11:04. Penalties -- West 3 for 6; Service 4 for 8.

Third Period -- 6, Service, Strahle (Deal), 3:28; 7, West, Coles (Bailey), 4:02; 8, West, Bailey (Coles), 8:56 (pp); 9, West, Coles (Bailey, Street), 9:38. Penalties -- West 0 for 0; Service 2 for 4.

Goalies -- West, Mendenhall 16-13-6--35; Service, Gongora 3-5-2--10.

Dimond 14, Eagle River 2

Dimond junior Erik Cooper registered four goals and had three helpers Tuesday as the undefeated Lynx demolished the Wolves at the McDonald Center in Eagle River.

Dimond goalie Marcus Holzschuh blocked eight shots to help Dimond improve to 7-0-0 overall, 3-0-0 CIC.

Brad Voice and Alex Browning provided the only two goals for the Wolves (2-9-0, 0-4-0).

Dimond 4 8 2 -- 14

Eagle River 0 2 0 -- 2

First Period -- 1, Dimond, Stoner (Fairchild, E. Cooper), 5:34; 2, Dimond, Feller (B. Cooper), 6:11; 3, Dimond, Treptow (Browning), 9:33; 4, Dimond, E. Cooper (unassisted), 12:39. Penalties -- none.

Second Period -- 5, Dimond, Treptow (Wamsganz), :24; 6, Dimond, Wamsganz (B. Cooper), :47; 7, Eagle River, Voice (Thompson), 5:03; 8, Dimond, E. Cooper (Fairchild, Hill), 6:54; 9, Dimond, Hill (Stoner), 7:23; 10, Eagle River, Browning (Russell, Cage), 9:00; 11, Dimond, B. Cooper (Stoner), 10:48, 12, Dimond, E. Cooper (B. Cooper), 11:08; 13, Dimond, Stoner (E. Cooper, Fairchild), 11:17; 14, Dimond, Roberts (Clapper, Thompson), 12:37. Penalties -- none.

Third Period -- 15, Dimond, Stoner (E. Cooper, Fairchild), 1:50; 16, Dimond, E. Cooper (Stoner, Fairchild), 12:07. Penalties -- Dimond 1 penalty for 2 minutes; Eagle River 0 for 0..

Goalies -- Dimond, Holzschuh 4-1-3--8; Eagle River, Haken 10-13-0--23; Johanson 0-0-8--8.

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