Kenai senior Nate O’Lena stood tall for the Kardinals in goal Tuesday night as Kenai knocked off the Homer Mariners 2-1 for their first win of the season in Homer.
O’Lena survived a barrage of shots in the third period of the North Star Conference tilt to secure the win with over 30 saves for the night. The game followed a weekend in which O’Lena had 120 saves between three games against Wasilla, Palmer and Colony. Kenai (1-8) lost all three contests.
Kenai’s Dalton Dosko scored the game winner with 1:02 left on a Homer power play late in the second period, which ultimately became the only period of play with scoring. Cody Arbelovsky scored the first goal of the night just over a minute into the second frame to put Kenai ahead, but Homer’s Anton Kuzmin knotted it up at one apiece just three minutes later.
From there, it took nearly 10 minutes before Dosko found the puck and scored the short-handed goal.
Homer had a 5-3 advantage in the opening minutes of the third period, but Kenai warded off all attacks to preserve the win.
Homer’s Riley Swanson ended with 18 saves in net.
Kardinals 2, Mariners 1
Kenai 0 2 0 —2
Homer 0 1 0 —1
1st period — no scoring.
2nd period — 1. Kenai, Arbelovsky, PP, 1:02; 2. Homer, Kuzmin, 4:02; 3. Kenai, Dosko (unassisted), SH, 13:39.
