EAST ALTON — Collinsville’s Jason Sperry and Cory Sperry each had a hat trick and the Kahoks held on to shock Alton 6-5 Thursday night in the first game of their best-of-three MVCHA Class 2A North Division semifinal series at the East Alton Ice Arena.

Jason Sperry scored all three of his goals in the first period of the late-nighter, which began at 8:45 p.m. Cory Sperry added two in the second and the eventual game-winning goal early in the third period. The Kahoks, who were shut out twice by Alton in the regular season, were outshot by Alton 37-23, but Collinsville goalie Caleb Nowicki came up with 32 saves.

Trailing 6-3 in the third period, Alton staged a rally on a pair of power-play goals from leading scorer Alex Rubin. He scored from assists by Kain Henson and Tyler St. Peters with 5:36 remaining and then again with 3:14 remaining, assisted by Ben Drake. But the comeback fell a goal short and the Redbirds find themselves with their backs to the wall.

Alton needs a victory in Game Two at 7:15 p.m. on Monday night to keep the series alive. Game Three, if necessary, is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Feb. 16. All North Division playoff games are scheduled for the East Alton Ice Arena. The winner of the series will advance to the North Division finals against Edwardsville, which finished first in the regular-season North standings. Alton was second in the regular season standings in the three-team North.

The first period featured three goals from each team including the first of the game from Alton’s Jorda