WASILLA — Matanuska-Susitna valleys teams were ready to skate to a regular season sweep of their Peninsula opponents in North Star Conference play, but Billy Yoder and the Soldotna Stars had different ideas.
Yoder made 47 saves in the Soldotna net to help the Stars stun the Knights 6-2 at the Menard Arena in Wasilla on Saturday afternoon. Colony outshot the Stars 49-22 in the loss, but Yoder continued to come up big for the Stars. Yoder made 27 of his 47 saves in the second period.
The win was the first for a Peninsula program against a Valley team this season. Valley teams entered the day 15-0 in NSC play against the Peninsula and 17-0 overall. SoHi was the only Peninsula team to pick up a victory in the Valley on Saturday.
Cameron Knowlton finished with a four-point day for the Stars, bagging two goals and two assists. Jace Urban, Corey Hanson, Levi Hensley and Ethan Brown also scored for Soldotna, which beat a Valley team for the first time this season. Soldotna also bounced back from a pair of losses to Colony early in the year.
Cy Eller and Jacob Kirsch scored for Colony.
Soldotna scored three times in the first, and built a 4-0 lead in the second. Urban and Knowlton scored power-play goals during the first period. Colony’s first tally, a Eller goal, came on the power play with 9:44 left in the second period. That score cut Soldotna’s advantage to 4-1.
Friday, Colony beat Homer 4-1.
Foster Riekena enjoyed a three-point night for the Knights, collecting two goals and an assist. Zachary Monaco and Eller also scored for the Knights. Monaco’s goal came with the Knights on the power play. Cooper McLaughlin led CHS with a pair of assists.
Tack Humbard has the lone goal for Homer.
Colony outshot Homer 38-20 in the win.
Colony’s Alex Gamez made 19 saves in the win.
The Knights hammered Kenai 9-0 on Thursday.
Moose in first place
PALMER — The Palmer Moose skated into the weekend locked in a first-place tie with rival Colony. But Saturday afternoon, the Moose were left standing alone at the top of the North Star Conference standings.
Palmer’s lopsided win over Kenai combined with Soldotna’s upset of Colony gives the Moose sole possession of first-place with a 7-0-1 conference mark. Colony dropped to 6-1-1 with the loss.
Freshman Chase Rosenberg used a career day to help the Moose post a 10-4 victory over the Kards on Saturday afternoon at the MTA Events Center in Palmer. Early in the second period, Rosenberg scored his first career varsity goal. He capped his day by scoring his third goal with 40 seconds left in regulation to notch his first career hat trick.
Senior captain Darren Fish added a pair of goals in the victory. Chris Dojka, Noah Keil, Bowen Webb, Valary Dietz and Noah Richards also scored for Palmer.
Palmer built a quick lead in the game. Fish scored 46 seconds into the first period and Dojka added a goal at the 10:39 mark to give the Moose the 2-0 lead.
Kenai struck late in the first period with a Levi Mese power-play goal to cut Palmer’s lead in half, but the Moose scored twice during the final 69 seconds of the period to take a 4-1 lead into the first break. Keil and Fish each scored late for the Moose. The second Fish came on a breakaway with 22 seconds left in the period.
Palmer added five goals in the second and another in the third.
Mese and Tristan Bulot scored a pair of goals each for Kenai. Jakeb O’Brien and Brenna Eubank had two assists each. Three of Kenai’s four goals came in the third period.
Friday, the Stars surged in the third, but Soldotna was stopped short of a victory.
Soldotna tallied three goals in the final period, but Palmer held on for a 5-4 victory over the Stars on Friday the MTA Events Center in Palmer.
Taylor Foster bagged Palmer’s final two goals of the night to help the Moose thwart the upset-minded Stars. Foster’s first score of the game gave the Moose the 4-1 lead late in the second. His goal with 9:42 left in regulation proved to be the game-winner.
Fish also scored twice for the Moose. Palmer’s Garrett Ropka scored his first career varsity goal in the win.
Ropka’s score came early in the first period, and Palmer used a pair of Fish goals and a Foster tally to take the 4-1 lead into the third period. Soldotna netted all three of its scores during a seven-minute span of the third. Jace Urban scored an unassisted goal 33 seconds into the third period. Less than three minutes later, Cole Crandall cut Palmer’s lead to 4-3.
Foster pushed Palmer’s lead to 5-3 with 9:42 left. Less than two minutes later, Cameron Knowlton scored unassisted to bring Soldotna back within one.
Palmer outshot Soldotna 38-26 in the win. Half of Soldotna’s shots came in the third period. Cody Grogan finished with 22 saves for Palmer. Billy Yoder recorded 33 saves for the Stars.
The Moose beat Homer 5-1 on Thursday. Palmer is now 6-0 against Peninsula opponents in conference play this season.
Wasilla finishes the weekend perfect
Wasilla capped a perfect weekend with a 6-0 win over Homer on Saturday afternoon at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena.
Russell Harren continued to tear through conference foes with a pair of goals, and the Warriors outshot the Mariners 43-8. Cody Butcher, Dawson Monk, Garrett Conroy and Austin Stephens also scored for Wasilla.
Zach Curry recorded the eight-save shutout.
Wasilla led just 1-0 after the first period, getting a Butcher goal with about eight minutes left in the period, but added a pair of goals in the second and three in the third. Wasilla outshot Homer 15-1 during the final period.
Friday, Wasilla routed Kenai 12-1. Harren enjoyed a nine-point night for the Warriors, picking up four goals and five assists. Porter Schachle added seven points, with three goals and four assists. Olivia Matson added two goals for Wasilla. Butcher, Conroy, Christian Rivas and Monk also scored for the Warriors.
Jacob Kilfoyle recorded Kenai’s lone tally, a goal late in the first period.
Wasilla outshot Kenai 58-15. Ryan Williams made 46 saves for the Kards.
Wasilla is now 6-2-0 in conference play.
Palmer 10, Kenai 4
Saturday, MTA Events Center
First period — 1. Palmer- Fish (Savel, Foster) 14:14; 2. Palmer- Dojka (Richards, Shults) 10:39; 3. Kenai- Mese (Maxson, O’Brien) pp 4:41; 4. Palmer- Keil (Hanson, Bryant) 1:09; 5. Palmer- Fish (Foster, Shults) 0:22.
Second period — 6. Palmer- Rosenberg (Ropka) 13:42; 7. Palmer- Webb (Dojka, Richards) 13:23; 8. Palmer- Dietz (Hanson, Bryant) 12:07; 9. Palmer- Richards (Bowen, Dojka) 7:58; 10. Palmer- Rosenberg (Webb, Armstrong) 4:22.
Third period — 11. Kenai- Bulot (O’Brien, M. Hagel_ 10:15; 12. Kenai- Mese (Eubank, Lingafet) 6:41; 13. Kenai- Bulot (Mese, Eubank) 3:14; 14. Palmer- Rosenberg (Brooks, Wilson) 0:40.
Shots on goal: Kenai 4-5-7—16, Palmer 14-15-6—35; Saves: Kenai- Williams 10-10-5—25; Palmer- Grogan 3-5-x—8, Duncan x-x-4—4.
Soldotna 6, Colony 2
Saturday, Menard Arena
First period — 1. Soldotna- Urban (Hensley, Knowlton) pp 13:46; 2. Soldotna- Knowlton (Hensley, Moeglein) pp 4:39; 3. Soldotna- Hanson (unassisted) 0:46.
Second period — 4. Soldotna- Hensley (Witthus, Knowlton) 12:45; 5. Colony- Eller (Smith) pp 9:44.
Third period — 6. Soldotna- Knowlton (Urban) 12:56; 7. Colony- Kirsch (Ketchum) 7:29; 8. Soldotna- Brown (Wirz) 4:39.
Shots on goal: Soldotna 8-4-10—22, Colony 7-28-14—49; Saves: Soldotna- Yoder 7-27-13—47; Colony- Gamez 5-x-4—9, Doss 0-3-4—7.
Wasilla 6, Homer 0
Saturday, Brett Arena
First period — 1. Wasilla- Butcher (Stephens, Rivas) 7:59.
Second period — 2. Homer- Harren (Butcher) 11:50; 3. Wasilla- Monk (Schachle) 5:26.
Third period — 4. Wasilla- Harren (Schachle, Butcher) 11:36; 5. Wasilla- Conroy (Stephens, Engan) 6:06; 6. Wasilla- Stephens (Harren) 4:43.
Shots on goal: Homer 2-5-1—8, Wasilla 13-15-15—43; Saves: Homer- Swanson 12-13-12—37; Wasilla- Curry 2-5-1—8.
Palmer 5, Soldotna 4
Friday, MTA Events Center
First period — 1. Palmer- Ropka (Fish, Shults) 11;17; 2. Soldotna- Hensley (Brown) 8:14.
Second period — 3. Palmer- Fish (Shults, Foster) 12:09; 4. Palmer- Fish (Dojka) 4:55; 5. Palmer- Foster (Savel, Fish) 1:46.
Third period — 6. Soldotna- Urban (unassisted) 14:27; 7. Soldotna- Crandall (Brown) 11:48; 8. Palmer- Foster (Fish) 9:42; 9. Soldotna- Knowlton (unassisted) 7:35.
Shots on goal: Soldotna 8-5-13—26, Palmer 12-15-11—38; Saves: Soldotna- Yoder 11-12-10—33, Palmer- Grogan 7-5-10—22.
Colony 4, Homer 1
Friday, Menard Arena
First period — 1. Colony- Riekena (McLaughlin) 0:35.
Second period — 2. Colony- Monaco (Riekena) pp 8:20; 3. Homer- Humbard (unassisted) 2:48; 4. Colony- Eller (Thiele, Smith) 1:21; 5. Colony- Riekena (McLaughlin, Kirsch) 0:38.
Shots on goal: Homer 6-5-9—20, Colony 10-14-14—38; Saves: Homer- Swanson 9-11-14—34; Colony- Gamez 6-4-9—19.
Wasilla 12, Kenai 1
Friday, Brett Arena
First period — 1. Wasilla- Schachle (Stephens, Harren) pp 6:01; 2. Wasilla- Butcher (Harren, Conroy) pp 4:39; 3. Wasilla- Harren (Butcher) 2:26; 4. Kenai- Kilfoyle (unassisted) 0:19.
Second period — 5. Wasilla- O. Matson (Monk, Jones) 11:58; 6. Wasilla- Conroy (Tubbs, Schachle) 10:26; 7. Wasilla- O. Matson (Monk) 4:29; 8. Wasilla- Rivas (Schachle, Harren) 4:12; 9. Wasilla- Schachle (Harren) sh 0:01.
Third period — 10. Wasilla- Harren (Schachle, Rivas) 11:01; 11. Wasilla- Harren (Schachle) 8:19; 12. Wasilla- Monk (O. Matson, Moore) ea 5:42; 13. Wasilla- Schachle (Harren) 5:14.
Shots on goal: Kenai 4-9-2—15, Wasilla 13-23-22–58; Saves: Kenai- Williams 10-18-18—46, Wasilla- Carney 3-9-2—14.
