The Soldotna hockey team wrapped up a winless road trip to Fairbanks on Saturday afternoon with a 3-2 overtime loss to Lathrop.
Friday night, the Stars dropped a 6-1 contest to West Valley, one day after losing 5-3 to North Pole. The three-game weekend trip dropped SoHi to 1-12-2 overall this year.
The trip also capped a brutal stretch of seven games in 10 days for the Stars, all losses.
Lathrop’s Andras Rszabo netted the overtime winner Saturday to complete a hat trick, taking advantage of the puck bouncing over a SoHi defender’s stick and slotting it home to win the game with 1:42 left in the eight-minute overtime period.
Soldotna head coach Indy Walton said the Stars showed great effort against a Lathrop team that was fresh off a 2-1 overtime win over North Star Conference rival Colony on Thursday. Overall, SoHi outshot Lathrop 27-20, including 12-3 in the third period.
“The whole team was pretty disappointed as they knew we outplayed them and deserved the win,” said Walton, who skate for Lathrop, going to three straight state championships games and winning in 1986 and 1987, when he had the game winner in a 4-3 victory against Dimond. “The bounces just didn’t go our way. It was a great effort by everyone on the team.”
Journey Miller tied it up with 6:33 to play in regulation for the Stars, giving her three goals in the three weekend games for SoHi, and Sam Skolnick notched his first varsity goal of the season for SoHi to open the scoring in the first period.
Walton said Stars skater Dylan Walton ricocheted a shot off the post in the waning minutes of regulation, a missed opportunity against a strong team.
“We had some great chances and their goalie stood on his head,” Walton said, referring to Malamutes netminder Oleg Vasilik, who stopped 25 of 27 shots.
Corbin Wirz made 17 saves between the pipes for Soldotna.
Friday against West Valley, Miller scored SoHi’s lone goal of the night, a scoring strike that put Soldotna up 1-0 in the first period.
However, West Valley scored with just one second left in the period to knot it up, and from there, the Wolfpack turned up the pressure by outshooting the Stars 26-5 in the final two periods of play. A goal by Jaren Beckley gave West Valley the lead just 1:52 into the second frame.
Walton said he was pleased with the Stars cutting down on team penalties, which amounted to five total, as well as goalie Kenzie Powell, who made 30 saves on the night against what Walton said was the fourth-ranked team in the state, according to a recent coaches poll.
“(It was the) best game I’ve seen Kenzie play ever,” Walton said.
Anton Ruppert notched three assists for West Valley and Dylan Savereide had a goal and two assists.
Kenai hockey takes 3rd at Big Lake
BIG LAKE — With a stellar effort between the pipes and a little help from the special teams, Kenai Central capped its three-day stay in Big Lake with a victory.
Kenai’s Josh Tree made 52 saves and Kenai scored a pair of short-handed goals in a 17-second span during a 4-3 win over Juneau-Douglas in the third-place game of the Big Lake Lions Christmas Classic on Saturday afternoon in Big Lake.
Kenai, which finished 2-1 in the tournament, scored all four of its goals in the second period. Levi Mese and Nate Beiser scored short-handed goals 17 seconds apart to give the Kards the 2-1 lead. Juneau had led 1-0 after the first period. Jakeb O’Brien and Jordan Knutson scored later in the period, and Kenai skated into the third period with a 4-1 lead.
Juneau cut into Kenai’s advantage with two goals in the third. Cole Berelli, Jake Dale and Billy Bosse scored goals for Juneau.
The Crimson Bears outshot Kenai 55-20 in the loss. Juneau had 20 shots in both the second and third periods.
It marked the second straight day Kenai allowed more than 50 shots. Wasilla outshot Kenai 57-29 during a 6-2 victory over the Kards during the semifinals on Friday. Tree made 51 saves in the loss.
The Warriors used a big third period to break the game open. Wasilla led 3-2 through two periods.
Porter Schachle led Wasilla with a hat trick. Chase Schachle collected three assists.
Mese and Beiser scored goals for Kenai.
The Kards opened the tournament with a 6-5 win over Palmer.
Kenai Central 4, Juneau-Douglas 3
Big Lake Lions Christmas Classic
Saturday, Big Lake
First period — 1. Juneau- Berelli (Bixby) 9:17.
Second period — 2. Kenai- Mese (unassisted) sh 12:50; 3. Kenai- Beiser (unassisted) sh 5:39; 4. Kenai- O’Brien (Mese, Hagel) 5:39; 5. Kenai- Knutson (O’Brien, Eubank) 2:54.
Shots on goal: Juneau 15-20-20—55, Kenai 10-8-2—20; Saves: Juneau- Mitchell 10-3-x—13, Hickok x-1-2—3; Kenai- Tree 14-20-18—52.
Wasilla 6, Kenai Central 2
Big Lake Lions Christmas Classic
Friday, Big Lake
First period — 1. Kenai- Milburn (West, Dosko) 13:33; 2. Wasilla- Wiltfong (Masterson) 9:41; 3. Wasilla- P. Schachle (Roush, C. Schachle) 7:10.
Second period — 4. Wasilla- P. Schachle (C. Schachle) 8:21; 5. Kenai- Mese (O’Brien, Hagel) pp 1:25.
Third period — 6. Wasilla- P. Schachle (Moore, C. Schachle) 14:03; 7. Wasilla- Engan (P. Schachle) pp 1:10; 8. Wasilla- Koivanen (LeCren, Gudz) 0:27.
Shots on goal: Kenai 7-9-13—29; Wasilla 10-22-25—57; Saves: Kenai- Tree 8-21-22—51; Wasilla- Campbell 6-8-13—27;
Saturday
Malamutes 3, Stars 2
Soldotna 1 0 1 0 —2
Lathrop 1 0 1 1 —3
First period — 1. Soldotna, Skolnick (unassisted), 9:21; 2. Lathrop, Rszabo (Tompkins, Boynton), 10:36. Penalties — Soldotna 3 for 6:00; Lathrop 1 for 2:00.
Second period — no scoring. Penalties — Soldotna 1 for 2:00; Lathrop 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 3. Lathrop, Rszabo (Nautiyal), 6:26; 4. Soldotna, Miller (Brantley), 8:27. Penalties — Soldotna 1 for 2:00; Lathrop 2 for 6:00.
Overtime — 5. Lathrop, Rszabo (Boynton, Nautiyal), 6:18.
Shots on goal — Soldotna 8-7-12-0—27; Lathrop 10-6-3-1—20.
Goalies — Soldotna, Wirz (20 shots, 17 saves); Lathrop, Vasilik (27 shots, 25 saves).
Friday
Wolfpack 6, Stars 1
Soldotna 1 0 0 —1
West Valley 1 2 3 —6
First period — 1. Soldotna, Miller (Brantley), 11:12; 2. West Valley, Hafele (Savereide, Baxter), 14:59. Penalties — Soldotna 1 for 2:00; West Valley 4 for 8:00.
Second period — 3. West Valley, Beckley (Ruppert, Troppmann), 1:52; 4. West Valley, Ray (Savereide), 11:54. Penalties — Soldotna 2 for 4:00; West Valley 2 for 4:00.
Third period — 5. West Valley, Savereide (Sadler, Ruppert), :33; 6. West Valley, Baxter (unassisted), 2:22; 7. West Valley, Rogers (Ruppert), 10:55. Penalties — Soldotna 2 for 4:00; West Valley 1 for 2:00.
Shots on goal — Soldotna 10-4-1—15; West Valley 10-13-13—36.
Goalies — Soldotna, Powell (36 shots, 30 saves); West Valley, Atkinson (15 shots, 14 saves).
