The Service Cougars capped a perfect weekend Saturday at the End of the Road Shootout in Homer with a lopsided 11-0 victory over Kenai Central.
Service wrapped up a 3-0 weekend with wins over Homer, Wasilla and Kenai to take the round-robin tournament title. Wasilla and Homer tied at 3 on Saturday afternoon to finish tied for second in the tournament with identical 1-1-1 records, while Kenai finished fourth with an 0-3 showing.
Friday, Homer outlasted Kenai 7-5 in a wild game that saw Mariners skater Ethan Pitzman tally six goals, and seven total points.
Homer 3, Wasilla 3
The Mariners forged a tie with the Warriors after a five-minute overtime period went scoreless to end a contest that saw Wasilla outshoot Homer 50-16.
Homer led 3-2 late in the game when the Warriors’ Langston Bouma tied it with 1:37 to play to force the extra time.
Isaiah Nevak and Alden Ross both scored go-ahead goals for Homer in the third period, but Wasilla answered each time. Nevak scored with 9:37 left to put Homer up 2-1, but the Warriors answered with eight minutes to play on a Holden Wiltfong shot. Ross scored with 4:25 to go with help from Ethan Pitzman for a 3-2 lead.
In the first period, Wasilla struck first with a goal from Tayler Zachary, and Homer’s Lee Lowe tied it with 3:58 left in the frame.
Mariners goaltender Hunter Warren stopped 47 of 50 shots from Wasilla.
Service 11, Kenai 0
Jordan Watson led Service to the win Saturday morning with a 24-save shutout for the Cougars.
On offense, Jake Hayes popped in four goals for Service and Ben Martensen added two goals.
The Cougars outshot Kenai 31-13 through the first two periods, building a 5-0 advantage over the Kardinals, then tacked on six more goals in the final 15 minutes to ice the victory.
Kenai goalie Carson Koppes made 33 saves on 44 shots.
Homer 7, Kenai 5
The Homer Mariners picked up a 7-5 win over the Kenai Central hockey team Friday night in the End of the Road Shootout at the Kevin Bell Ice Arena in Homer.
Homer improved to 1-1 at the round-robin tournament while Kenai fell to 0-2.
The star of the night was Mariners forward Ethan Pitzman, who netted an eye-popping six goals, and the one he didn’t score he tallied an assist on for seven total points.
In a game that saw the lead swapped five times, Kenai started with a Wyatt Harvey goal in the first period, Pitzman tied it with two seconds left in the period, then tied it again in the second period after Kenai had retaken the lead on a Miles Marsten goal.
Homer took a 3-2 lead on a Brenna McCarron goal, which Pitzman helped set up, then went up 4-2 on an unassisted Pitzman strike, capping a three-goal spurt by the Mariners in 2:06 of game time.
Kenai cut the lead to 4-3 by the end of the second with an unassisted score by Nate Beiser, then tied it with 11:17 left in the third period thanks to Zach Burnett.
The tie game lasted just over a minute, however, as Pitzman notched his fourth of the night with help from Fiona Hatton.
The seesaw affair was knotted once again with 5:58 left on a Jacob Begich goal, but Homer finally had the last laugh with just under five minutes left when Isaiah Nevak and Dylan McBride set up Pitzman to score his fifth of the night to put the Mariners ahead. Pitzman notched the insurance goal with 1:34 to play.
Also on Friday, Service netted three goals in the first period to notch a 5-1 win over Wasilla.
Saturday
Cougars 11, Kardinals 0
Service 3 2 6 —11
Kenai 0 0 0 —0
First period — 1. Service, Leety (Garroutte), 2:28; 2. Service, Hayes (Ferreria), 10:56; 3. Service, Hayes (Ferreria), 14:07. Penalties — Service 1 for 2:00; Kenai 1 for 5:00.
Second period — 4. Service, Martensen (unassisted), 9:19; 5. Service, Martensen (Edmonson, Garrity), 14:49. Penalties — Service 3 for 6:00; Kenai 2 for 4:00.
Third period — 6. Service, Byers (unassisted), 1:27; 7. Service, Bourdon (Ferreria), 4:15; 8. Service, Leety (Edmonson), 10:13; 9. Service, Hayes (Bourdon), 13:51; 10. Service, Hayes (Garroutte), 14:02; 11. Service, #20 (Hayes), 14:38. Penalties — none.
Goalies — Service, Watson (24 shots, 24 saves); Kenai, Koppes (44 shots, 33 saves).
Shots — Service 16-15-13—44; Kenai 9-4-11—24.
Mariners 3, Warriors 3
Homer 1 0 2 0 —3
Wasilla 1 0 2 0 —3
First period — 1. Wasilla, Zachary (Harbour), 4:47; 2. Homer, Lowe (unassisted), 11:02. Penalties — Wasilla 3 for 6:00; Homer n/a.
Second period — no scoring. Penalties — Wasilla 3 for 6:00; Homer n/a.
Third period — 3. Homer, Nevak (unassisted), 5:23; 4. Wasilla, Wiltfong (Holler, Goff), 7:00; 5. Homer, Ross (Pitzman), 10:35; 6. Wasilla, Bouma (Holler, Schachle), 13:23. Penalties — Wasilla 3 for 6:00; Homer n/a.
Overtime — no scoring. Penalties — Wasilla 1 for 2:00; Homer 1 for 2:00.
Goalies — Homer, Warren (50 shots, 47 saves); Wasilla, (16 shots, 13 saves).
Shots — Homer 4-4-7-1—16; Wasilla 15-14-20-1—50.
Friday
Mariners 7, Kardinals 5
Homer 1 3 3 —7
Kenai 1 2 2 —5
First period — 1. Kenai, Harvey (Gabriel), 5:58; 2. Homer, Pitzman (Gilliland), 14:58. Penalties — Homer 1 for 2:00; Kenai 1 for 2:00.
Second period — 3. Kenai, Marsten (Stock), 4:27; 4. Homer, Pitzman (Gilliland, Arno), 5:15; 5. Homer, McCarron (Pitzman), 6:33; 6. Homer, Pitzman (unassisted), 7:21; 7. Kenai, Beiser (unassisted), 10:57. Penalties — Homer 1 for 2:00; Kenai 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 8. Kenai, Burnett (Begich), 3:43; 9. Homer, Pitzman (Hatton), 4:59; 10. Kenai, Begich (unassisted), 9:02; 11. Homer, Pitzman (Nevak, McBride), 10:03; 12. Homer, Pitzman (Hatton), 13:26. Penalties — Homer 2 for 7:00.
Goalies — Homer, Roderick (35 shots, 30 saves); Kenai, Cross (29 shots, 22 saves).
Shots — Homer 6-10-13—29; Kenai 15-10-10—35.
Service High School player Brent Edmonson looks for a place to pass the puck with Kenai’s Jordyn Stock close on his tail during a game Saturday during the End of the Road Shootout at Kevin Bell Arena in Homer. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)
Kenai’s Miles Marsten steps over Homer’s Lee Lowe after Lowe fell while both were chasing the puck during a game between the two schools Friday at the End of the Road Shootout at Kevin Bell Arena in Homer. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)
Kenai’s Logan Dosko grabs the puck out of the corner with Homer’s Isaiah Nevak on his heels during a game Friday during the End of the Road Shootout at Kevin Bell Arena in Homer. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)
