The Kenai Central hockey team defeated Soldotna 4-1 on Tuesday in Northern Lights Conference action at the Kenai Multi-Purpose Facility.
The Kardinals are now 2-1 against SoHi, 3-1 in the league and 9-5 overall. The Stars fall to 2-3 and 7-7-2 as both teams head to the holiday break.
Kenai’s seniors were playing Soldotna on home ice for the last time, and the seniors responded.
“It’s kind of what we were saying, this is the last time you’ll see them here, in this building,” Kenai head coach Steve Hallam said of the seniors. “So, I think they made the most of it.”
Special teams decided the game. Kenai went 2 for 3 with the man advantage, but did give up a short-handed goal. The Stars were 0 for 5 on the power play and gave up two shorties.
SoHi’s power play was red hot to start the season, but has cooled off as of late.
“That’s just the ebbs and flows of the power play,” Soldotna head coach Anthony Zurfluh said. “Sometimes, when it comes easy, it just comes easy.
“When all of a sudden it’s not going your way, that’s just the way it goes. I really am not super discouraged. We’ll work on the power play.”
The first goal didn’t come until 1:13 remained in the second period, when senior Gavin Liles won a scrum in front of the net to put the Kardinals up 1-0. William Howard assisted on the power-play goal.
With 20 seconds left in the second period, Noah Crabtree tipped the puck away at the blue line and converted on a short-handed breakaway to tie the game and rob the Kards of momentum.
Hallam loved the way senior leaders like Liles, Logan Mese and Avery Martin responded in the locker room, telling the Kards they were a team no matter what happens.
“As a coach, that’s music to my hears,” Hallam said. “I love to hear that coming from the leaders of the team.”
Just 46 seconds into the third period, and with a second left on the power play, Liles put the Kardinals up again when he tipped in a shot from senior Sawyer Vann. Martin assisted.
“Scoring those two goals is just huge,” Hallam said of the power-play strikes. “It’s something we worked on a lot in practice. Seeing how they executed it out there was huge.”
Martin and Mese then finished off the game with their unique chemistry on the ice.
With 8:47 left, Mese scored short-handed on a Martin assist. With 7:24 remaining, Martin scored short-handed on assists from Mese and Liles.
“That’s exactly what we expected from Mese and Avery,” Zurfluh said. “They’re going to put up a little bit of numbers, and we were trying to manage them the best we could.”
Soldotna did win the shot count 32-23.
“Hats off to SoHi,” Hallam said. “They’re just so deep. Every line they put out, we’re trying to match.
“It just seems like they have threat after threat.”
Zurfluh said there is sickness running through his team, and the weekend trip to Juneau only made things worse. Three players didn’t even play due to illness, and many more struggled through.
“You know, I thought we were all over them for a long time,” Zurfluh said. “I thought Evyn Witt had a couple of beauty saves to keep them right in it, or we maybe kind of climb the mountain back.
“But props to Kenai. Good job.”
Witt, a senior, made 31 saves. Brycen Clyde stopped 19 for the Stars.
Hallam said another senior playing a major effort in holding the Stars to one goal was defenseman Vann.
“Buzz is always solid and always physical,” Hallam said of Vann.
Both coaches said they are looking forward to getting their team a break, then making a sprint to the Division II state tourney, which will be Feb. 6 to 8 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.
The quality of a tight Division II field was brought into focus Saturday, when Houston, the defending Division II state champ, handed West, the defending Division I state champ, its first loss of the season.
SoHi tied Houston earlier in the season, while the Kards travel to play the Hawks on Jan. 16.
“The break couldn’t have come at a better time for our team right now after the travel weekend,” Zurfluh said. “We got back late Sunday night on late, delayed flights.
“Everybody’s sick and coughing and hacking. We just could really use the break.”
Tuesday
Kardinals 4, Stars 1
Sol 0 1 0 —1
Ken 0 1 3 —4
First period — none. Penalties — none.
Second period — 1. Kenai, Liles (Howard), pp, 13:47. 2. Soldotna, Crabtree (un.), sh, 14:40. Penalties — Soldotna 3 for 6:00; Kenai 2 for 4:00.
Third period — 3. Kenai, Liles (Vann, Martin), pp, 0:46. 4. Kenai, Mese (Martin), sh, 6:13. 5. Kenai, Martin (Mese, Liles), 7:36. Penalties — Kenai 3 for 6:00.
Shots on goal — Soldotna 9-12-11—32; Kenai 5-13-5—23.
Goalies — Soldotna, Clyde (23 shots, 19 saves); Kenai, Witt (32 shots, 31 saves).
Power plays — Soldotna 0 for 5; Kenai 2 for 3.
