The Soldotna Stars rebounded from a tough loss to Homer one night earlier to post a resounding 7-0 Railbelt Conference win over Kenai Central on Wednesday night at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.
SoHi bumped its conference record to 7-1 with the win, ahead of Homer (5-1) and Juneau (6-2), giving the Stars a boost of confidence as the prep season winds down. The Division II state hockey tournament begins in two weeks in Wasilla.
Wednesday’s win wasn’t a sure thing all the way, however. Kenai kept it scoreless between the two sides in the first period with an even shot count.
The shutout quickly ended in the second period, as Alex Montague opened the scoring for a second night in a row two minutes into the frame, taking advantage of a few Kenai bobbles to collect the puck and put the Stars up 1-0.
It led to a five-goal outburst by SoHi in the second period, and the Stars ended with six different goal-scorers on the night.
Stars head coach Indy Walton said clean play by the Kardinals helped keep things close early. Both teams committed just one penalty each.
“Kenai is improved,” Walton said. “A lot of times we can expect them to have seven or eight penalties, but they only had one tonight, and Jackson Cross came up big for them.”
Jackson Cross stopped all seven shots he faced in the first period, but fell victim to SoHi’s consistent line play to finish with 27 saves on 34 shots.
“We had a ton of fire, the kids wanted it,” said Kenai head coach Jacob Newton. “But some of us took some time off in the second (period) and SoHi capitalized.”
SoHi goaltender Corbin Wirz kept a blank sheet with 19 saves, and said after allowing the go-ahead goal in the third period of Tuesday’s loss to Homer, he felt better about beating Kenai.
“Coach said this is a rivalry game and to never sleep on it,” Wirz said. “Never take it for granted.”
Wyatt Medcoff led the SoHi offense with two goals, and the Stars got a goal apiece from Montague, Braxton Urban, Galen Brantley III and Sam Skolnick.
The five-goal burst in the second period began with Montague’s score and continued with a controversial goal just 19 seconds later. Yeager was credited with chipping the puck in after a shot rebounded off the pads of Cross, but a whistle by the referee led to confusion as to if Yeager got it in in time.
“It was a turning point in the game,” Newton said. “If that gets waved off it’s still a 1-0 game and we’re in it.”
The refs ultimately called it good and SoHi took a 2-0 lead. Urban scored with 8:55 left in the period to put SoHi ahead 3-0 and Brantley’s snipe from the left faceoff circle with 3:22 remaining pushed the lead to 4-0.
Kenai caught a break with a power-play opportunity late in the period, but the Kards were caught out on a line change when SoHi scored the fifth goal of the frame. Medcoff took an assist from JD Schmelzenbach and scored the short-handed goal with 94 seconds left in the second.
Wednesday
Stars 7, Kardinals 0
Kenai 0 0 0 —0
Soldotna 0 5 2 —7
First period — no scoring. Penalties — none.
Second period — 1. Soldotna, Montague (Skolnick), 2:03; 2. Soldotna, Yeager (Haakenson, Walton), 2:22; 3. Soldotna, Urban (Miller), 6:05; 4. Soldotna, Brantley III (Aley, Yeager), 11:38; 5. Soldotna, Medcoff (Schmelzenbach), SH, 13:26. Penalties — Soldotna 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 6. Soldotna, Medcoff (Montague, Urban), PP, 5:24; 7. Soldotna, Skolnick (Brantley, Montague), 12:32. Penalties — Kenai 1 for 2:00.
Shots on goal — Soldotna 7-16-11—34; Kenai 7-7-5—19.
Goalies — Soldotna, Wirz (19 shots, 19 saves); Kenai, Cross (34 shots, 27 saves).
Kenai’s Jordyn Stock (right) watches a shot by Soldotna’s Sam Skolnick Wednesday night in a conference game at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex. (Photo by Joey Klecka/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai’s Aidan Milburn (right) and Soldotna’s Dylan Walton fight for the puck Wednesday night in a conference game at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex. (Photo by Joey Klecka/Peninsula Clarion)
