WASILLA —Valley teams dominated a long weekend of North Star Conference hockey. Colony, Wasilla and Palmer each hosted Kenai, Soldotna and Homer over a stretch of three days. During that span, Valley teams finished 8-1 against the Peninsula squads. The Valley programs also outscored the visitors by a combined 44-9.
A pair of Valley squads finished undefeated during the weekend. Colony and Wasilla both finished 3-0 during the three-game homestand. Palmer was 2-1 against the Peninsula teams.
Colony 3, Soldotna 1
Colony capped its weekend with a win over Soldotna on Saturday at the Menard Arena in Wasilla. Jacob Link scored a pair of goals for the Knights. Curtis Foster also tallied a goal for the Knights.
Colony outshot Soldotna 29-9 in the win.
Foster scored early in the first to give the Knights the 1-0 lead. Link had goals in both the first and second periods.
Justice Miller scored the lone goal for Soldotna.
Wasilla 5, Homer 0
Wasilla capped its weekend with a win over Homer on Saturday. The Warriors are now 3-1-1 in North Star play.
Palmer 3, Kenai 0
Saturday, Darren Fish scored a pair of goals to help Palmer beat Kenai. Chris Dojka also scored on a penalty shot.
Palmer finished 2-1 during the weekend. Saturday, Darren Fish scored a pair of goals to help Palmer beat Kenai 3-0. Chris Dojka also scored on a penalty shot.
Palmer outshot Kenai 50-6 in the win, but the game was scoreless into midway through the third. Kenai goalkeeper Nate O’Lena finished with 47 saves. He stopped all 33 shots he saw during the first two periods.
Colony 10, Homer 0
Colony sophomore Josh Boyer scored a pair of short-handed goals during a 27-second stretch of the first period to spark the Knights during a 10-0 rout of Homer on Friday.
Boyer was one of seven Knights to score in the victory. Jake Hessinger also scored twice. Cole Bloemer, Otto Thiele, Shawn Mitchell, Jake Hessinger, Isaac Vincent, Jacob Link and Cooper Smith added goals.
Smith also finished with three assists.
Colony outshot Homer 43-12 in the victory. Joey Diltz stopped all 12 of the shots he saw to earn the win in the Colony net.
The Knights posted their fourth straight shutout in the victory. Colony has outscored its last four opponents 31-0.
Homer goalie Markan Polushkin made 28 saves after relieving starter Riley Swanson in the first period.
Wasilla 7, Kenai 1
Friday, Blake Marks and Garrett Conroy each scored a pair of goals to lead Wasilla to a 7-1 win over Kenai. Logan Whitlatch, Russell Harren and Christian Rivas also scored for Wasilla. Dalton Dosko scored Kenai’s lone goal.
Palmer 8, Soldotna 2
Friday, Palmer built a six-goal lead, and cruised to an 8-2 North Star Conference victory over the visiting Stars at the MTA Events Center in Palmer.
Josh Meyers and Reagan Rice each scored twice to help Palmer improve to 2-1-0 in conference play. Darren Fish, Hayden Shults, Valary Dietz and Cole Clements also scored for Palmer. Fish also collected three assists in the win.
Palmer outshot SoHi 31-21 in the win. Cody Grogan made 19 saves for the Moose.
Saturday
Moose 3, Kardinals 0
Palmer 0 0 3 —3
Kenai 0 0 0 —0
First period — no scoring.
Second period — no scoring.
Third period — 1. Palmer, Fish (Rice, Meyers) 6:48; 2. Palmer, Fish (unassisted) 3:50; 3. Palmer, Dojka (penalty shot) 2:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai 3-1-2—6; Palmer 16-17-17—50; Saves: Kenai, O’Lena 16-17-14—47; Palmer, Grogan 3-1-2—6.
Knights 3, Stars 1
Colony 2 1 0 —3
Soldotna 1 0 0 —1
First period — 1. Colony, Foster (Thiele, Boyer) 12:10; 2. Soldotna, Miller (Johnson, Longfellow) 9:25; 3. Colony, Link (Mitchell) 1:39.
Second period — 4. Colony, Link (unassisted) 4:28.
Third period — no scoring.
Shots on goal — Soldotna 3-4-2—9; Colony 12-10-7—29.
Saves — Soldotna, Yoder 10-9-7—26; Colony, Diltz 2-4-2—8.
Friday
Moose 8, Stars 2
Palmer 3 3 2 —8
Soldotna 0 1 1 —2
First period — 1. Palmer, Fish (Shults) 13:05; 2. Palmer, Meyers (Rice) 7:35; 3. Palmer, Shults (Rice, Foster) 3:45.
Second period — 4. Palmer, Rice (Fish, Meyers) 13:38; 5. Palmer, Meyers (Shults, Fish) 11:32; 6. Palmer, Dietz (Keil) 10:34; 7. Soldotna, Fenton (Hensley, Miller) 5:49.
Third period — 8. Palmer, Rice (Meyers, Fish), 9:12; 9. Soldotna, Flanders (Knowlton, Fenton), 8:21; 10. Palmer, Clements (Dojka) 3:47.
Shots on goal — Soldotna 7-6-8—21, Palmer 6-12-13—31.
Saves — Soldotna, Yoder 8-9-11—28; Palmer, Grogan 7-5-7—19.
Warriors 7, Kardinals 1
Wasilla 2 3 2 —7
Kenai 0 0 1 —1
First period — 1. Wasilla, Marks (Harren, Schruf) 2:11; 2. Wasilla, Whitlatch (Harren, Tubbs) 0:11.
Second period — 3. Wasilla, Marks (Conroy, Schruf) 12:53; 4. Wasilla, Harren (Clark, Morrison) 12:34; 5. Wasilla, Conroy (Marks, Schruf) 8:32.
Third period — 6. Wasilla, Rivas (O. Matson) 7:18; 7. Kenai, Dosko (Weber, Arbelovsky) 7:09; 8. Wasilla, Conroy (Marks) 6:24.
Knights 10, Mariners 0
Colony 4 5 1 —10
Homer 0 0 0 —0
First period — 1. Colony, Bloemer (Vincent) 14:37; 2. Colony, Thiele (Link, Boyer) 13:49; 3. Colony, Boyer (Link) sh 6:34; 4. Colony, Boyer (unassisted) sh 6:07.
Second period — 5. Colony, Mitchell (Smith) 12:21; 6. Colony, Hessinger (Smith, Sanders) 8:00; 7. Colony, Vincent (Eller, Bloemer) 5:38; 8. Colony, Link (Boyer, Sanders) pp 3:45; 9. Colony, Hessinger (Smith, Branch) 1:17.
Third period — 10. Colony, Smith (Kempenski) 7:31.
Shots on goal — Homer 5-1-6—12; Colony 14-19-10—43.
Saves — Homer, Swanson 5-x-x–5, Polushkin 5-14-9—28.
