Staff report
The Kenai Central hockey team swept Friday and Saturday games from host Kodiak in Railbelt Conference play.
The Kardinals moved to 9-6-1 overall and 5-1-1 in the league with 10-0 and 9-2 victories, while the Bears, a first-year program, remain winless.
In Friday’s game, the Kardinals led 3-0 after the first period on goals from Jacob Begich, Avery Martin and Logan Mese. In the second period, Mese and Begich scored to make it 5-0 headed to the final period.
In the third period, Gavin Liles, Joe Petty, Mese, Reagan Graves and Jaden Garner all notched goals.
Carson Koppes made 12 saves for the shutout, while Kodiak’s Oskar Klausner made 40 saves for Kodiak.
Saturday, Daniel Shelden had four goals for the Kardinals, scoring three times in the first period and then again in the third period. Landen Cialek had a goal in the first period as the Kardinals led 4-0 after a period.
In the second period, Zach Rogerss, Koda Norbeck and Jo Petty scored for Kenai before Gavin Baxter cut it to 7-1 headed to the final period.
In the third period, Baxter scored again for the Bears, while Ayden Spann joined Shelden on the scoresheet for the Kardinals.
Koppes saved 13 for the Kards, while Kate Harris stopped 5 of 7 in relief. For Kodiak, Noah Baxter stopped 10 of 14 ,while Christopher Newbill stopped 14 of 19.
In the third period of Friday’s game, Kodiak had five penalties for 21 minutes, while Kenai had four penalties for 24:00. A lot of those penalties came after Kenai objected to a hit by Kodiak about five minutes into the period.
Kenai coach Scott Shelden said the key takeaway is Kodiak was able to fix the situation Saturday. The Bears did not have any penalties in the game.
Friday
Kardinals 10, Bears 0
Kenai 3 2 5 —10
Kodiak 0 0 0 —0
First period — 1. Kenai, Begich (Norbeck, Cialek), 1:02; 2. Kenai, Martin (un.), 5:20; 3. Kenai, Mese (un.), 5:29. Penalties — Kenai 1 for 2:00; Kodiak 1 for 2:00.
Second period — 4. Kenai, Mese (un.), 0:39; 5. Kenai, Begich (un.), 7:42. Penalties — Kenai 3 for 6:00; Kodiak 5 for 10:00.
Third period — 6. Kenai, Liles (Petty), 4:24; 7. Kenai, Petty (Mese), 7:35; 8. Kenai, Mese (Warren, Shelden), 8:57; 9. Kenai, Graves (un.), 9:34; 10. Kenai, Garner (un.), 12:02. Penalties — Kenai 4 for 24:00; Kodiak 5 for 21:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai 14-16-20—50; Kodiak 3-3-6—12.
Goalies — Kenai, Koppes (12 shots, 12 saves); Kodiak, Klausner (50 shots, 40 saves).
Saturday
Kardinals 9, Bears 2
Kenai 4 3 2 —9
Kodiak 0 1 1 —2
First period — 1. Kenai, Shelden (Mese, Graves), 1:10; 2. Kenai, Shelden (un.), 4:36; 3. Kenai, Cialek (un.), 6:00; 4. Kenai, Shelden (J. Petty, Mese), 13:29. Penalties — Kenai 2 for 4:00.
Second period — 5. Kenai, Rogerss (un.), 0:14; 6. Kenai, Norbeck (Begich), 12:15; 7. Kenai, J. Petty (un.), 13:18; 8. Kodiak, G. Baxter (un.), 14:21. Penalties — Kenai 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 9. Kenai, Shelden (un.), 2:44; 10. Kodiak, G. Baxter (un.), 9:15; 11. Kenai, Spann (un.), 11:16. Penalties — Kenai 4 for 16:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai 14-10-9—33; Kodiak 8-7-5—20.
Goalies — Kenai, Koppes (13 shots, 13 saves), Harris (7 shots, 5 saves); Kodiak, N. Baxter (14 shots, 10 saves), Newbill (19 shots, 14 saves).
