The Kenai Central and Soldotna hockey teams finished up their regular seasons with Northern Lights Conference victories Saturday.
Both the Kardinals and Stars qualify for the Division II state tournament, which will be Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 6 to 8, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.
The Kardinals topped Homer 7-1 at the Kenai Multi-Purpose Facility to finish 14-9 overall and 8-2 in the Northern Lights Conference. Kenai finished second in the league behind Palmer, which took just one league loss.
The Mariners finish 1-15 overall and 1-8 overall. Homer will have to get one of two at-large berths available to state to continue its season.
The Kardinals honored seniors Everett Chamberlain, Levi Crawford, Cole Langham, Gavin Liles, Avery Martin, Alex Martinez, Logan Mese, Oliver Parrish, Braden Smith, Seanna Swanson, Lexi Taylor, Sawyer Vann, manager Tait Cooper and manager Kendal Loggins as part of senior night.
Taylor got the scoring started for the Kardinals in the first period with her first varsity goal. Mese had the Kardinals up 2-0 headed to the second period.
Martin put Kenai up 3-0 in the second, but Seamus Hatton cut it to 3-1 for Homer. Liles scored unassisted for a 4-1 lead headed to the third.
Chamberlain finished off the Mariners in the third period with a pair of goals.
Reace Brothers made 29 saves for Homer. For Kenai, Crawford saved 9 of 10 and Swanson saved 4 of 4.
Soldotna defeated Kodiak 5-1 at the sports complex to finish 12-10-2 and 6-4 in the league. That puts the Stars third in the league and automatically qualifies them for state.
Marshall DeRaeve had a hat trick for the Stars. He started the scoring in the first period before Miles Grimes answered short-handed for Kodiak. Daniel Heath would give SoHi a 2-1 lead headed to the second period.
Sylas Hughes and DeRaeve, short-handed, made it 4-1 Soldotna headed to the third period.
DeReave scored short-handed again in the third period to close the scoring.
Brycen Clyde saved 6 of 7 for SoHi, while Jordin Berzanske stopped 7 of 7.
For Kodiak, Simon Lonheim saved 28 of 32 and Aiden Johnson stopped 12 of 13.
Saturday
Kardinals 7, Mariners 1
Hom 0 1 0 —1
Ken 2 2 3 —7
First period — 1. Kenai, Taylor (Potton, Butler), 4:53. 2. Kenai, Mese (Liles, Vann), 9:25. Penalties — Homer 1 for 2:00.
Second period — 3. Kenai, Martin (Mese), 0:53. 4. Homer, Hatton (un.), 2:47. 5. Kenai, Liles (un.), 14:32. Penalties — Kenai 2 for 4:00.
Third period — 6. Kenai, Howard (Mese, Martin), 0:46. 7. Kenai, Chamberlain (Hallam), 6:09. 8. Kenai, Chamberlain (Hallam, Smith), 12:47. Penalties — none.
Shots on goal — Homer 6-4-4—14; Kenai 14-11-11—36.
Goalies — Homer, Brothers (36 shots, 29 saves); Kenai, Crawford (10 shots, 9 saves), Swanson (4 shots, 4 saves).
Saturday
Stars 5, Bears 1
Kod 1 0 0 —1
Sol 2 2 1 —5
First period — 1. Soldotna, DeRaeve (Williams), 6:10. 2. Kodiak, Grimes (un.), sh, 13:55. 3. Soldotna, Heath (DeRaeve), 14:48. Penalties — Kodiak 3 for 6:00; Soldotna 3 for 6:00.
Second period — 4. Soldotna, Hughes (Mullican), 1:31. 5. Soldotna, DeRaeve (un.), sh, 13:26. Penalties — Kodiak 1 for 2:00; Soldotna 3 for 6:00.
Third period — 6. Soldotna, DeRaeve (Heath), sh, 6:18. Penalties — Kodiak 3 for 6:00; Soldotna 1 for 2:00.
Shots on goal — Kodiak 4-3-7—14; Soldotna 14-18-13—45.
Goalies — Kodiak, Lonheim (32 shots, 28 saves), Johnson (13 shots, 12 saves); Soldotna, Clyde (7 shots, 6 saves), Berzanske (7 shots, 7 saves).
