The Kenai Central hockey team finished off a championship in the End of the Road Shootout at Kevin Bell Ice Arena in Homer on Saturday with an 8-3 victory over Bartlett.
The Kardinals finished 2-0 at the three-day tournament. The tournament was scrambled by a team dropping out, so the Soldotna junior varsity played instead. That meant SoHi’s JV was scheduled to play Kenai on Friday, but the Kardinals JV played SoHi JV instead and Kenai JV lost.
Because Kenai did play its JV, the game wasn’t counted for the tourney standings and the Kardinals got the title. The Kardinals are now 7-4 overall and 3-0 against teams from the Cook Inlet Conference.
SoHi finished 2-1 at the tournament and is 5-4-2 overall. Homer was 0-3 at the tourney and is 0-5 overall. The Soldotna JV was 2-1 at the tournament, as was Tri-Valley. Bartlett finished 1-2.
Avery Martin had four goals for the Kards against Bartlett. Martin had the first two goals of the game before Landon Morton scored for the Golden Bears to make it 2-1. William Howard then scored for Kenai before the period was up for a 3-1 Kenai lead.
In the second period, Logan Mese, who had four assists in the game, scored for a 4-0 game. Howard and Martin would stretch the lead to 6-1 by the end of the second.
In the third period, Sawyer Vann and Martin scored for Kenai, while Wyatt Rust and Morton lit the lamp for Bartlett.
Evyn Witt had 18 saves for the Kardinals, while Reece Morton stopped 21 for the Bears.
Soldotna 10, Tri-Valley 0
The Stars dominated behind hat tricks from Daniel Heath and Noah Crabtree.
SoHi was winning 5-0 after the first period. Heath and Chase Willis scored twice, while Marshall DeRaeve also lit the lamp.
In the second period, Draiden Mullican and Crabtree stretched the lead to 7-0. In the third period, Crabtree scored twice while Heath scored once.
Brycen Clyde saved all six shots he saw for SoHi, while Fynley Holkko stopped the one shot he saw in relief.
For Tri-Valley, Elijah Graham made 41 saves.
Soldotna JV 11, Homer 3
The Soldotna junior varsity beat a Homer squad that had several of their best players crossed off the scoresheet.
The Stars led 2-0 after the first period on goals by Castin Garcia and Colby Lund-Strength.
The Stars kept rolling by scoring three times in the first three minutes of the second period. Lund-Strength, Tristen Roberts and Spencer Dahlman had those tallies.
Homer then struck back with tallies by Berend Pearson and Austin Pitzman for a 5-2 game.
Paul Wertanen scored for Soldotna, Zane Barth scored for Homer and Tucker Challans scored for SoHi as the Stars led 7-3 headed to the final frame.
SoHi then scored all four goals in the third period. Wyatt Alvord, Wertanen, Riley Wagers and Cody Grimes had those tallies.
Nalalee Strouse had seven saves on seven shots for the Stars, while Hunter Burgress stopped 8 of 11 in relief. For Homer, Ali Gall had 18 saves.
Saturday
Stars JV 11, Mariners 3
Sol 2 5 4 —11
Hom 0 3 0 —3
First period — 1. Soldotna, Garcia (Burcham), 8:55. 2. Soldotna, Lund-Strength (un.), 10:08. Penalties — Soldotna 1 for 2:00.
Second period — 3. Soldotna, Lund-Strength (un.), 0:45. 4. Soldotna, Roberts (un.), 2:11. 5. Soldotna, Dahlman (Wertanen), 2:43. 6. Homer, Pearson (Clemens), pp, 6:45. 7. Homer, Pitzman (Pearson, Boyd), 7:35. 8. Soldotna, Wertanen (un.), sh, 9:07. 9. Homer, Barth (Pearson), pp, 12:47. 10. Soldotna, Challans (Wertanen), 14:40. Penalties — Soldotna 5 for 21:00; Homer 2 for 7:00.
Third period — 11. Soldotna, Alvord (un.), 0:52. 12. Soldotna, Wertanen (Garcia), 3:06. 13. Soldotna, Wagers (Grimes), pp, 12:07. 14. Soldotna, Grimes (Wagers), 12:25. Penalties — Soldotna 2 for 7:00; Homer 1 for 2:00.
Shots on goal — Soldotna 7-8-14—29; Homer 4-10-4—18.
Goalies — Soldotna, Strouse (7 shots, 7 saves), Burgess (11 shots, 8 saves); Homer, Gall (29 shots, 18 saves).
Stars 10, Viking Warriors 0
TV 0 0 0 —0
Sol 5 2 3 —10
First period — 1. Soldotna, Willis (Heath), 0:55. 2. Soldotna, Heath (Crabtree), 1:02. 3. Soldotna, Willis (Heath, Settlemyer), 10:40. 4. Soldotna, DeRaeve (un.), 11:30. 5. Soldotna, Heath (Hawkins), 14:43. Penalties — Tri-Valley 1 for 2:00; Soldotna 1 for 2:00.
Second period — 6. Soldotna, Mullican (Williams, Settlemyer), 3:09. 7. Soldotna, Crabtree (Mullican, Perez-Baiton), 6:14. Penalties — Tri-Valley 1 for 2:00; Soldotna 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 8. Soldotna, Crabtree (un.), 3:46. 9. Soldotna, Heath (Crabtree), 11:02. 10. Soldotna, Crabtree (Heath, DeRaeve), 11:09. Penalties — Soldotna 2 for 4:00.
Shots on goal — Tri-Valley 2-4-1—7; Soldotna 19-13-19—51.
Goalies — Tri-Valley, Graham (51 shots, 41 saves); Soldotna, Clyde (6 shots, 6 saves), Holkko (1 shot, 1 save).
Saturday
Kardinals 8, Golden Bears 3
Bar 1 0 2 —3
Ken 3 3 2 —8
First period — 1. Kenai, Martin (Mese, Liles), 8:45. 2. Kenai, Martin (Mese), sh, 9:40. 3. Bartlett, L. Morton (W. Rust, Beals), pp, 10:53. 4. Kenai, Howard (Mese), 12:00. Penalties — Bartlett 1 for 2:00; Kenai 3 for 6:00.
Second period — 5. Kenai, Mese (un.), 0:42. 6. Kenai, Howard (Mese), 1:51. 7. Kenai, Martin (C. Langham), 14:19. Penalties — Bartlett 1 for 2:00; Kenai 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 8. Bartlett, W. Rust (un.), pp, 5:11. 9. Kenai, Vann (Howard, Martin), 11:43. 10. Kenai, Martin (Mese), 14:25. 11. Bartlett, L. Morton (Lewis, A. Rust), 14:38. Penalties — Bartlett 3 for 14:00; Kenai 1 for 2:00.
Shots on goal — Bartlett 9-5-7—21; Kenai 7-13-9—29.
Goalies — Bartlett, R. Morton (29 shots, 21 saves); Kenai, Witt (21 shots, 18 saves).
