Editor’s note: A previous web version of this story had the wrong record for the Kenai vs. Soldotna series this season. The Clarion regrets the error.

The Division II state hockey tournament will return to the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex for a second straight year.

The tourney will be Thursday, Feb. 6, through Saturday, Feb. 8. Before last season, when Houston defeated Soldotna for the state title, the sports complex had not hosted a state hockey tournament since 2004.

Both Soldotna head coach Anthony Zurfluh and Kenai Central head coach Steve Hallam said fans can expect a ton of quality games.

Just how close the top teams are is reflected in the seeding, which is done by formula by the Alaska School Activities Association.

Soldotna, which finished third in the Northern Lights Conference behind Palmer and Kenai Central, is the tournament’s top seed.

Palmer is No. 2, while the Kardinals, who were 3-1 against the Stars this season, are No. 5.

“It’s going to be exciting,” Hallam said. “There’s not going to be many runaway scores.

“You just gotta win three.”

The Stars, who finished 12-10-2 in the regular season and 6-4 in the league, did have some big games to get the top seed.

SoHi finished 2-1 this season against Palmer, tied No. 3 seed Houston and defeated No. 4 seed North Pole 5-2.

On the other hand, to show how wide open the tourney is, SoHi did split with No. 6 seed Juneau-Douglas: Yadaa.at Kale and finish 1-3 against No. 5 seed Kenai.

“There’s no team that’s stretched so far ahead that they can’t be beat,” Zurfluh said.

The Stars face Delta in the first round at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The Huskies did not record a victory against any of the top six teams in the tournament.

SoHi won its lone state title in 2023 and was the state runner-up in 2024 and 2020.

The Kardinals, who finished 14-9 overall and 8-2 in the league, face state tournament nemesis North Pole in the first round at 4 p.m.

Since realignment put all the Kenai Peninsula teams in the Division II tournament starting in 2019, Kenai has lost to the Patriots in the first round in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The Kardinals finally snapped that spell in 2023, when they defeated North Pole 3-2 in the fourth-sixth place game.

Kenai finished the season on a five-game winning streak and won the season series with the Stars, but the Kards also finished 0-3 against Palmer and lost to Houston.

Kenai’s best finish at state is fourth, which has happened three times since 2020. Last season, the Kardinals won a first-round game at state for the first time in school history.

North Pole showed what it is capable of in late January, when the Patriots notched a victory over Houston.

Also Thursday, Houston and Juneau-Douglas play at 11 a.m., and Palmer and No. 7 Tri-Valley play at 1:30 p.m.

Houston has won two of the last three state titles, while Juneau-Douglas finished second in 2023 after an upset of Houston in the semifinals that broke up a potential three-peat for the Hawks.

Palmer won the state tournament in 2019, finished second in 2021 and 2022, and finished third in 2020 and 2024. The main problem for the Moose when it came to seeding was finishing under .500 against Soldotna, because Palmer is undefeated against every other team in the tournament.

Tri-Valley showed it can be dangerous with a 4-2 win over Juneau on Feb. 1.

With so many tough, close games expected, both Zurfluh and Hallam said home crowds and home cooking will be a big bonus.

“It’ll be great,” Hallam said. “I like sleeping on our own beds, eating our own food and having our own stuff.

“I think it’s just huge.”

Zurfluh said he expects the first round games to be a battle, then the semifinals and finals to take all the energy each team has.

“I’ve noticed on the road, it’s really hard to manage our food intake because we’re always eating at crappy spots so we’re eating junk,” the coach said. “I think to be able to manage our food intake here will be a key to our success.”

Division II state hockey tournament

at Soldotna Regional Sports Complex

Thursday’s games

Game 1 — Soldotna vs. Delta, 6:30 p.m.

Game 2 — North Pole vs. Kenai Central, 4 p.m.

Game 3 — Houston vs. Juneau, 11 a.m.

Game 4 — Palmer vs. Tri-Valley, 1:30 p.m.

Friday’s games

Game 5 — Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 1:30 p.m.

Game 6 — Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 11 a.m.

Game 7 — Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 6:30 p.m.

Game 8 — Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 4 p.m.

Saturday’s games

Fourth-sixth place game — Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 12 p.m.

Third-fifth place game — Game 7 loser vs. Game 8 loser, 2:30 p.m.

Championship — Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 5 p.m.