Staff report

The Houston hockey team defeated Soldotna 5-2 on Thursday in Railbelt Conference action at the Big Lake Rec Center.

Daniel Matveev dominated the game for the Hawks, scoring all five goals to drop the Stars to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in the league. Houston also had defeated Soldotna 5-0 on Saturday in the final of the Big Lake Lions Classic.

After a scoreless first period, Matveev opened up the scoring with 10:59 left in the second period. A little over five minutes later, Matveev would have a hat trick and the Hawks would have a 3-0 lead.

Soldotna battled back, starting with a goal by Josh O’Lena, assisted by Kyle Howell, with 47 seconds left in the second period. With 8:14 left in the game, Dylan Dahlgren scored unassisted to cut the gap to 3-2.

Matveev then got going again to finish things off, scoring at the 5:25 and 1:21 marks.

Ari Burnside had 12 saves to record the win for the Hawks, while Ayden See stopped 32 for the Stars.

Palmer 2, Homer 1, OT

The Moose notched an overtime victory over the Mariners on Thursday at the MTA Event Center in Railbelt Conference play.

Homer dropped to 4-7-1 overall and 3-2-1 in the league.

Brock Barth, assisted by Owen Pitzman and Matfey Reutov, put Homer up 1-0 in the second period, but Stuart McQuillin had things square by the end of the period.

With 4:32 left in overtime, Gavin Gore scored unassisted for the game-winner for the Moose.

Keegan Strong saved 28 for Homer, while Joshua Horacek stopped 11 for Palmer.

Railbelt Conference play continues today with Homer at Houston at 7 p.m. and Kenai at Palmer at 7 p.m. On Saturday, Soldotna is at Palmer at 12:45 p.m. and Kenai is at Houston at 11 a.m.

Thursday

Hawks 5, Stars 2

Soldotna 0 1 1 —2

Houston 0 3 2 —5

First period — none. Penalties — none.

Second period — 1. Houston, Matveev (Reutov), 4:01; 2. Houston, Matveev (Richard), 7:03; 3. Houston, Matveev (Konev, Kuzmin), 9:13; 4. Soldotna, O’Lena (Howell), 14:13. Penalties — Soldotna 4 for 8:00; Homer 2 for 4:00.

Third period — 5. Soldotna, Dahlgren (un.), 6:46; 6. Houston, Matveev (Efimov), 9:35; 7. Houston, Matveev (un.), sh, 13:39. Penalties — Soldotna 1 for 2:00; Houston 3 for 6:00.

Shots on goal — Soldotna 4-4-6—14; Houston 7-21-9—37.

Goalies — Soldotna, See (37 shots, 32 saves); Houston, Burnside (14 shots, 12 saves).

Moose 2, Mariners 1, OT

Homer 0 1 0 0 —1

Palmer 0 1 0 1 —2

First period — none. Penalties — Homer 1 for 2:00; Palmer 3 for 6:00.

Second period — 1. Homer, Barth (Pitzman, Reutove), 1:38; 2. Palmer, McQuillin (K. Greco), 13:12. Penalties — none.

Third period — none. Penalties — none.

Overtime — 3. Palmer, Gore (un.), 3:28. Penalties — none.

Shots on goal — Homer 3-2-7—12; Palmer 10-9-10-1—30.

Goalies — Homer, Strong (30 shots, 28 saves); Palmer, Jo. Horacek (12 shots, 11 saves).