Soldotna captures Peninsula Ice Challenge

The Soldotna hockey team won the Peninsula Ice Challenge with a 4-0 victory over Soldotna on Saturday at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.

Palmer and SoHi finished 2-1 at the tourney, while Colony and Kenai were 1-2. SoHi beat Palmer head-to-head.

Daniel Heath had a hat trick for the Stars, while Brycen Clyde had a 25-save shutout in net.

Heath had the Stars up 1-0 after the first period on an unassisted, short-handed goal. He put SoHi up 2-0 in the second period on a power-play goal assisted by Noah Crabtree and Ryker Parnell.

Crabtree, assisted by Marshall DeRaeve and Heath, made it 3-0 headed to the third.

There, Heath buttoned up his hat trick on Crabtree and Zurfluh helpers.

There was no all-tourney team, but SoHi head coach Anthony Zurfluh wrote in a text message that Crabtree, DeRaeve, Heath, Zack Zurfluh and Clyde keyed the title.

Also Saturday at the sports complex, Palmer defeated Colony 5-1.

Kenai 6, Colony 2

Friday at the Kenai Multi-Purpose Facility, Kenai jumped to a 4-0 lead in taking down Colony 6-2. In the first period, Gavin Liles scored on a Mason Butler assist, and Logan Mese got started on a hat trick on a William Howard helper.

Mese and Sawyer Vann started out the second period with unassisted goals for Kenai before Jace Albers cut it to 4-1.

The Kards then struck twice to start the third period, with Noah Hallam converting a Everett Chamberlain assist and Mese slamming in a pass from Cameron Schwinn.

Evyn Witt had 29 saves for Kenai, while Tess Jorgensen and Traeton Adams combined for 29 saves for the Knights.

Soldotna 8, Palmer 5

Daniel Heath had four goals to lead the Stars on Friday at the sports complex.

The Stars had a 2-1 lead after the first period on goals by Noah Crabtree and Heath, while Brandon Horacek scored for Palmer.

SoHi went up 3-1 in the second thanks to Heath, but Cooper Frank and Elijah Von Gunten tied it for Palmer. Heath put SoHi up 4-3 headed to the third period.

Zander Anderson tied it in the fourth for Palmer, but goals by Nathan Hawkins and Crabtree put SoHi up 6-4.

Kaleb Von Gunten made it 6-5, but SoHi closed out the game with Marshall DeRaeve and Heath tallies.

Brycen Clyde stopped 29 for Soldotna, while Kai Curl had 15 saves for Palmer.

Palmer 8, Kenai 3

The Thursday game at the Kenai Multi-Purpose Facility between Kenai and Palmer featured two teams that lost in the semifinals of last season’s Division II state tournament. The Moose topped the Kardinals 7-2 in the third-place game.

Palmer coach Rusty Belanger expects to be a challenger at state again.

“We’ve got 11 seniors, so next year is going to be tough,” Belanger said. “It’ll be a building year.

“But if you have a year where we’re going to do something and make a mark, this is it.”

The Moose got off to a promising start against the Kardinals, who have 10 seniors under first-year head coach Steve Hallam.

“In Palmer, we knew we’d see a top-rate, top-notch team coming right out of the gate,” Hallam said. “The score kind of got away from us a little bit, but we knew they were going to be good.”

Kinan Greco, assisted by Elijah Von Gunten, scored first for Palmer, but Logan Mese answered with a pair of breakaway goals for Kenai.

Mese is Belanger’s nephew.

“I feel like with him, there’s no game out of reach,” Hallam said. “He can score so fast.”

Bryce Horacek, assisted by Cooper Frank, had it tied headed to the second period.

Zander Anderson, assisted by Kaleb Von Gunten, started the second period with a power-play goal. Elijah Von Gunten, assisted by Greco and Liam Hilscher, made it 4-2 with 10:37 left in the second.

Kenai’s Ryder Gagnon notched his first varsity goal to cut it to 4-3. Oliver Parrish had the assist.

Palmer closed the period with goals by Hilscher, assisted by Elijah Von Gunten and Anderson, and Kaleb Von Gunten, assisted by Horaceck and Jacob Logan.

Hilscher then finished off a hat trick with two goals in the third period. Horacek, Kellen Kinneen and Elijah Von Gunten had assists.

Belanger said Hilscher, a senior, had the hat trick in his first high school game. Hilscher comes to the Moose from California, where high school hockey is under USA Hockey. In Alaska, hockey is under the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Hilscher still comes with AAA experience.

“He’s a great player,” Belanger said.

The Moose outshot the Kardinals 46-15, with Mily Christman stopping 12 for Palmer and junior Evyn Witt stopping 38 for Kenai.

“He just loves the game of hockey,” Hallam said of Witt. “Having a guy like that who’s passionate about winning — it’s just huge.”

Hallam said the Kardinals will rely on the seniors — including names like Mese, Avery Martin, Sawyer Vann, Gavin Liles and Cole Langham — for leadership.

“It’s great as a coach to have senior leadership that you can trust,” Hallam said. “They want to win and they’re good kids too.

“So they’re going to take care of teammates and take care of underclassmen.”

Hallam said he expects a competitive season in the Northern Lights Conference, which also includes Homer, Juneau-Douglas: Yadaa.at Kale, Kodiak, Palmer and Soldotna.

“Part of the fun is you can’t overlook anyone,” he said. “There’s no team that’s an easy win.”

He also expects the Aurora Conference to produce state challengers, including Houston and North Pole. The Hawks have won two of the last three Division II state crowns.

Colony 4, Soldotna 3

The Knights, a Division I school, held off the Stars, the Division II state runner-up last season, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex on Thursday.

The two squads exchanged goals early, with Colony’s Logan Lofland scoring with help from Jaxon Allen and Austin Fangmann, and Soldotna’s Marshall DeRaeve scoring on Daniel Heath and Noah Crabtree assists.

DeRaeve, on a Crabtree helper, put SoHi out front later in the first, but Colony’s Toryn Coffey, on a Cody Linstrom assist, tied it at the end of the first.

Colony scored the lone goal of the second period, with Jace Albers scoring on the power play on Lofland and Simeon Adams assists.

Colony went up 4-2 early in the third when Albers scored on Dane Joseph and Allen helpers. Riley Cronin answered back for the Stars with 11:57 to play, but Colony’s Traeton Adams, who had 25 saves, closed the door from there.

Brycen Clyde stopped 23 for the Stars.

“We’re trying to learn our identity as a hockey club,” Soldotna head coach Anthony Zurfluh said. “We’ve got a lot of young kids, so we kind of figured this is where we’d be at.

“We’re going to start a little bit slow, but I think as the season goes on, we’re going to gain speed and be right there.”

Zurfluh said some of their key returners for this season are Daniel Heath, Zach Zurfluh and Marshall DeRaeve.

The team gets a big infusion of youth with seven freshmen expected to see playing time, including Noah Crabtree, Ryker Parnell and Keegan Myrick.

“We always have pretty lofty goals,” Zurfluh said. “I think mainly our No. 1 goal is to be right there in our conference and be able to put up a fight at the state tournament.”

Zurfluh said it’s a bit early to forecast the conference and state.

“I think it’s going to be pretty tight this year,” he said.

He did mention Kenai and Palmer have some nice experience returning in the conference, while Houston also has to be considered a threat at state.

Homer drops 2 in Fairbanks

The Homer hockey team opened up its season with nonconference losses on the road, falling 12-1 to Monroe Catholic on Thursday and 13-1 to North Pole on Friday.

Thursday

Moose 8, Kardinals 3

Pal 2 4 2 —8

Ken 2 1 0 —3

First period — 1. Palmer, Greco (E. Von Gunten), 3:13. 2. Kenai, Mese (un.), 6:47. 3. Kenai, Mese (un.), 8:03. 4. Palmer, Horacek (Frank), 14:31. Penalties — Palmer 2 for 4:00; Kenai 2 for 4:00.

Second period — 5. Palmer, Anderson (K. Von Gunten), pp, 1:15. 6. Palmer, E. Von Gunten (Greco, Hilscher), 4:23. 7. Kenai, Gagnon (Parrish), 4:29. 8. Palmer, Hilscher (E. Von Gunten, Anderson), 12:20. 9. Palmer, K. Von Gunten (Horacek, Logan), 13:56. Penalties — Palmer 1 for 2:00.

Third period — 10. Palmer, Hilscher (Horacek, Kinneen), 1:30. 11. Palmer, Hilscher (E. Von Gunten), 11:21. Penalties — Palmer 2 for 15:00; Kenai 2 for 4:00.

Shots on goal — Palmer 15-18-13—46; Kenai 4-6-5—15.

Goalies — Palmer, Christman (15 shots, 12 saves); Kenai, Witt (46 shots, 38 saves).

Thursday

Knights 4, Stars 3

Col 2 1 1 —4

Sol 2 0 1 —3

First period — 1. Colony, Lofland (Allen, Fangmann), 2:02. 2. Soldotna, DeRaeve (Heath, Crabtree), 3:21. 3. Soldotna, DeRaeve (Crabtree), 10:23. 4. Colony, Coffey (Linstrom), 14:40. Penalties — Colony 2 for 4:00; Soldotna 2 for 4:00.

Second period — 5. Colony, Albers (Lofland, S. Adams), pp, 5:26. Penalties — Colony 2 for 4:00; Soldotna 3 for 6:00.

Third period — 6. Colony, Albers (Joseph, Allen), 1:10. 7. Soldotna, Cronin (un.), 3:03. Penalties — Soldotna 1 for 2:00.

Shots on goal — Colony 8-14-5—27; Soldotna 10-9-9—28.

Goalies — Colony, T. Adams (28 shots, 25 saves); Soldotna, Clyde (27 shots, 23 saves).

Friday

Kardinals 6, Knights 2

Col 0 1 1 —2

Ken 2 2 2 —6

First period — 1. Kenai, Liles (Butler), 2:15; 2. Kenai, Mese (Howard), 6:28. Penalties — Kenai 1 for 2:00.

Second period — 3. Kenai, Mese (un.), 3:07. 4. Kenai, Vann (un.), 4:24. 5. Colony, Albers (Neiser), 6:23. Penalties — Colony 3 for 6:00; Kenai 4 for 8:00.

Third period — 6. Kenai, Hallam (Chamberlain), 2:54. 7. Kenai, Mese (Schwinn), 6:38. 8. Colony, Lofland (un.), 7:38. Penalties — Kenai 2 for 4:00.

Shots on goal — Colony 5-14-12—31; Kenai 16-9-10—35.

Goalies — Colony, Jorgensen, Adams (35 shots, 29 saves); Kenai, Witt (31 shots, 29 saves).

Friday

Stars 8, Moose 5

Pal 1 2 2 —5

Sol 2 2 4 —8

First period — 1. Soldotna, Crabtree (DeRaeve), pp, 5:29. 2. Palmer, Bra. Horacek (Logan, E. Von Gunten), 5:46. 3. Soldotna, Heath (DeRaeve, Zurfluh), pp, 10:53. Penalties — Palmer 2 for 4:00; Soldotna 1 for 2:00.

Second period — 4. Soldotna, Heath (Perez, Crabtree), 3:31. 5. Palmer, Frank (Greco), 7:05. 6. Palmer, E. Von Gunten (K. Von Gunten, Greco), 9:00. 7. Soldotna, Heath (DeRaeve), 9:21. Penalties — Palmer 1 for 2:00; Soldotna 1 for 2:00.

Third period — 8. Palmer, Anderson (Hilscher, Logan), 2:27. 9. Soldotna, Hawkins (Heath, Crabtree), 4:24. 10. Soldotna, Crabtree (DeRaeve, Zurfluh), 5:18. 11. Palmer, K. Von Gunten (Hilscher, Greco), pp, 9:03. 12. Soldotna, DeRaeve (Crabtree), pp, 7:59. 13. Soldotna, Heath (Hawkins), 8:32. Penalties — Palmer 4 for 8:00; Soldotna 1 for 2:00.

Shots on goal — Palmer 11-11-12—34; Soldotna 9-7-7—23.

Goalies — Palmer, Curl (23 shots, 15 saves); Soldotna, Clyde (34 shots, 29 saves).

Saturday

Stars 4, Kardinals 0

Ken 0 0 0 —0

Sol 1 2 1 —4

First period — 1. Soldotna, Heath (un.), sh, 11:37. Penalties — Kenai 1 for 2:00; Soldotna 1 for 2:00.

Second period — 2. Soldotna, Heath (Crabtree, Parnell), pp, 5:13. 3. Soldotna, Crabtree (DeRaeve, Heath), 13:22. Penalties — Kenai 1 for 2:00; Soldotna 1 for 2:00.

Third period — 4. Soldotna, Heath (Crabtree, Zurfluh), 3:26. Penalties — Kenai 2 for 4:00.

Shots on goal — Kenai 10-8-7—25; Soldotna 7-14-7—28.

Goalies — Kenai, Witt (28 shots, 24 saves); Soldotna,

Clyde (25 shots, 25 saves).