Staff report

Kenai Peninsula teams Kenai Central, Homer and Soldotna all suffered losses Thrusday at the opening day of the 2021 Alaska Army National Guard Stars and Stripes Showdown at the MTA Events Center in Palmer.

The Kardinals (4-1 overall) lost 3-1 to Houston, the Mariners (2-2 overall) lost 7-6 to Eagle River and the Stars (2-2 overall) lost 5-1 to Colony.

The tournament continues today and Saturday. Today, Soldotna plays Eagle River at noon, Homer plays Juneau-Douglas at 2 p.m. and Kenai plays Colony at 8 p.m. Saturday, Homer plays North Pole at 9:15 a.m., Wasilla plays Kenai at 3:15 p.m. and Soldotna plays Dimond at 5:15 p.m.

Houston 3, Kenai 1

Daniel Matveev scored twice in the third period to decide a tightly played contest between the Railbelt Conference rivals.

Kenai had just nine shots in the game, eight of which were saved by Ari Burnside, while Houston had 22, 20 of which were saved by Carson Koppes.

Houston jumped on the board in the first period when Afanasy Efimov scored with 6:11 left in the period.

With 3:51 left until the first break, Landen Cialek scored unassisted for the Kardinals to tie things up.

The next goal didn’t come until 6:42 was left in the game, with Matveev putting the Hawks ahead. He then sealed the game with six seconds to play with an empty-net tally.

Eagle River 7, Homer 6

The Wolves, a Division I school, got past the Division II Mariners on Thursday.

Colony 5, Soldotna 1

The Knights, a Division I squad, received goals from five different players in getting past the Division II Stars on Thursday.

Kai Dixon and Drake Gallagher scored in the first five minutes of the game as the Knights burst from the gate.

In the second period, Jacob Ross put Colony up 3-0.

Just one minute into the third period, Luke Holman had Colony up 4-0, but SoHi’s Dawson Lockwood answered with a goal off of the ensuing faceoff.

With 6:40 left in the game, Tyler Keefe completed the scoring for Colony.

Ayden See stopped 17 for the Stars, while Liam VanBuskirk had eight saves for the Knights.

Thursday

Hawks 3, Kardinals 1

Kenai 1 0 0 —1

Houston 1 0 2 —3

First period — 1. Houston, Efimov (Johnson, Richard), 8:49; 2. Kenai, Cialek (un.), 11:09. Penalties — Kenai 1 for 2:00.

Second period — none. Penalties — Kenai 1 for 2:00; Houston 1 for 2:00.

Third period — 3. Houston, Matveev (Kuzmin), 6:42; 4. Houston, Matveev (Reutov, Efimov), 14:54. Penalties — Houston 3 for 6:00.

Shots on goal — Kenai 3-1-5—9; Houston 8-6-8—22.

Goalies — Kenai, Koppes (22 shots, 20 saves); Houston, Burnside (9 shots, 8 saves).

Knights 5, Stars 1

Soldotna 0 0 1 —1

Colony 2 1 2 —5

First period — 1. Colony, Dixon (Ross, Lynch), 1:39; 2. Colony, Gallagher (McKenzie, Holman), 4:16. Penalties — Soldotna 1 for 2:00; Colony 2 for 4:00.

Second period — 3. Colony, Ross (McKenzie, Dixon), 13:46. Penalties — none.

Third period — 4. Colony, Holman (McKenzie), 1:00; 5. Soldotna, Lockwood (un.), 1:08; 6. Colony, Keefe (Sturgis, Jones), 8:20. Penalties — Soldotna 3 for 6:00; Colony 3 for 6:00.

Shots on goal — Soldotna 2-5-2—9; Colony 7-9-6—22.

Goalies — Soldotna, See (22 shots, 17 saves); Colony, Liam VanBuskirk (9 shots, 8 saves).