The Soldotna Stars and Kenai Kardinals each capped the Alaska Army National Guard Stars and Stripes Showdown with a win at the MTA Events Center Saturday in Palmer.
Soldotna beat Colony 4-1 and Kenai blanked West Valley 1-0 during the final day of the three-day event hosted by Palmer High School. Trent Powell scored a pair of goals to lead the Stars. Powell notched a power-play goal late in the first and added an empty-netter late in the game.
Powell’s first score was one of a pair of Soldotna power-play goals during a span of just more than a minute. Powell gave the Stars a 1-0 lead with 4:27 left in the first. Galen Brantley III scored with the man advantage at the 3:06 mark. Wyatt Medcoff also scored for the Stars.
Soldotna outshot the Knights 34-26.
Daniel Shelden scored the lone goal during Kenai’s win over the Wolfpack. Jackson Cross used a 32-save shutout to lead the Kards to victory.
In other action, Dimond rolled past North Pole 13-1 and Wasilla beat the host Moose 6-3.
Homer 17, Monroe Catholic 0
The Homer hockey team finished a dominant, three-game trip to Fairbanks by defeating Monroe Catholic on Saturday morning.
Casey Otis and Tyler Gilliland had hat tricks for the Mariners, while Ethan Pitzman, Rhodes Turner and Isaiah Nevak each had two goals. Homer also received tallies from Austin Shafford, Matfey Reutov, Jett Allen and Phinny Weston.
Keegan Strong and Vlase Polushkin shared the shutout in net.
North Pole 6, Kenai 5
North Pole’s Daniel Crutcher tallied a hat trick to help the Patriots stave off a late surge by Kenai to win Friday night at the MTA Events Center in Palmer.
The loss dropped Kenai to 0-2 at the Alaska Army National Guard Stars and Stripes Hockey Showdown, which began Thursday.
Kenai took an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Gavin Langham, but North Pole broke out with four goals in the second period to grab a 4-3 edge after two periods.
Crutcher extended the Patriots’ lead to 6-3 with two goals in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the third, but the Kards had one last surge in them, starting with a goal from Landen Cialek with 9:25 to go.
Aidan Milburn cut the lead to one with 49 seconds left on a short-handed score, but Kenai ultimately ran out of time to complete the comeback.
Langham ended with two goals on the night, while Nate Beiser had a goal and two assists. Thomas Baker stopped 21 of 27 shots on goal for Kenai, while North Pole goaltending made 27 saves on 32 shots.
Wasilla 4, Soldotna 2
The Warriors scored three times in the second period to power by the Stars on Friday night in Palmer. SoHi is 1-1 through two days at the tournament.
Wasilla outshot Soldotna 19-6 in the first two periods, and got a 4-0 lead out of it. Sayer Sanders put the Warriors on the board first with an assist from Mason Mulneaux in the first period, and Wasilla inflated its lead in the second frame with goals from Colin Goff, Langston Bouma and Holden Wiltfong.
A pair of SoHi goals early in the third from Wyatt Medcoff and Galen Brantley III helped the Stars to close the gap to two. Wasilla then held off SoHi on a five-minute penalty kill on a head contact call, helping the Warriors hang on to win.
Homer 14, Hutchison 0
The Mariners crushed the Hawks in a Friday night nonconference clash at the Patty Center in Fairbanks.
Homer got out to a 4-0 lead in the first period, then scored seven times in the second frame to take an 11-0 lead. In the end, Homer outshot Hutchison 60-5.
Ethan Pitzman, Phinny Weston and Alden Ross each notched a hat trick, while Kazden Stineff added two goals. Casey Otis, Austin Shafford and Owen Pitzman also chipped in a goal apiece.
Friday
Patriots 6, Kardinals 5
North Pole 0 4 2 —6
Kenai 1 2 2 —5
1st period — 1. Kenai, Langham (Beiser), 2:18. Penalties — Kenai 4 for 8:00; North Pole 3 for 6:00.
2nd period — 2. North Pole, Crutcher (Kittrell, Battcher), PP, 2:23; 3. North Pole, Wilbur (Kittrell, Crutcher), 5:50; 4. North Pole, Kittrell (unassisted), PP, 9:16; 5. Kenai, Langham (Milburn, Beiser), PP, 13:39; 6. Kenai, Beiser (unassisted), 13:51; 7. North Pole, Wilbur (Kittrell, Crutcher), 14:16. Penalties — Kenai 2 for 4:00; North Pole 2 for 4:00.
3rd period — 8. North Pole, Crutcher (unassisted), 1:22; 9. North Pole, Crutcher (Kittrell, Geese), 2:34; 10. Kenai, Cialek (Shelden), 5:35; 11. Kenai, Milburn (unassisted), SH, 14:11. Penalties — Kenai 3 for 6:00; North Pole 3 for 6:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai 9-8-15—32; North Pole 5-14-8—27.
Goalies — Kenai, Baker (27 shots, 21 saves); North Pole, Vinton (32 shots, 27 saves).
Warriors 4, Stars 2
Wasilla 1 3 0 —4
Soldotna 0 0 2 —2
1st period — 1. Wasilla, Sanders (Mulneaux), 8:51. Penalties — Soldotna 1 for 2:00; Wasilla 2 for 4:00.
2nd period — 2. Wasila, Goff (Holler), :37; 3. Wasilla, Bouma (Roush, Woolcott), 6:15; 4. Wasilla, Wiltfong (Carney, Sanders), PP, 13:05. Penalties — Soldotna 4 for 8:00; Wasilla 1 for 2:00.
3rd period — 5. Soldotna, Medcoff (Miller), 4:17; 6. Soldotna, Brantley (unassisted), 5:32. Penalties — Wasilla 2 for 7:00.
Shots on goal — Soldotna 3-3-10—16; Wasilla 8-11-6—25.
Goalies — Soldotna, Wirz (25 shots, 21 saves); Wasilla, Brevogel (16 shots, 14 saves).
Mariners 14, Hawks 0
Homer 4 7 3 —14
Hutchison 0 0 0 —0
1st period — 1. Homer, Otis (Wickstrom), 1:35; 2. Homer, Ross (Nevak), 5:52; 3. Homer, Stineff (Gilliland), 10:33; 4. Homer, Weston (Gilliland), 13:53. Penalties — Homer 5 for 10:00; Hutchison 1 for 2:00.
2nd period — 5. Homer, E. Pitzman (Nevak), 2:33; 6. Homer, Ross (unassisted), 4:09; 7. Homer, E. Pitzman (unassisted), 4:30; 8. Homer, E. Pitzman (Weston), 6:37; 9. Homer, Weston (unassisted), 7:06; 10. Homer, Shafford (Wickstrom, Otis), 10:35; 11. Homer, Stineff (Gilliland), 13:50. Penalties — Homer 1 for 5:00.
3rd period — 12. Homer, Ross (unassisted), 7:10; 13. Homer, Weston (unassisted), 8:55; 14. Homer, O. Pitzman (E. Pitzman), 12:30. Penalties — Homer 1 for 2:00; Hutchison, 2 for 4:00.
Shots on goal — Homer 20-22-18—60; Hutchison 2-2-1—5.
Goalies — Homer, Poluskin (5 shots, 5 saves); Hutchison, Berrian (60 shots, 46 saves).
Saturday
Mariners 17, Rams 0
Homer 8 4 5 — 17
Monroe 0 0 0 — 0
First period — 1. Homer, Shafford (O. Pitzman, Turner), 1:00; 2. Homer, Otis (Ross), 2:36; 3. Homer, E. Pitzman (T. Nevak, Reutov), 3:22; 4. Homer, Turner (I. Nevak, Gilliland), 6:02; 5. Homer, Otis (Shafford, Reutov), 8:33; 6. Homer, Turner (O. Pitzman, Shafford), 12:07; 7. Homer, Gilliland (Wickstrom), 14:05; 8. Homer, Reutov (Ross), 14:51. Penalties — Monroe 1 for 2:00.
Second period — 9. Homer, Gilliland (E. Pitzman, I. Nevak), 3:09; 10. Homer, I. Nevak (un.), 4:32; 11. Homer, Shafford (E. Pitzman, Ross), 5:49; 12. Homer, Allen (Shafford, Ross), 13:11. Penalties — Homer 2 for 4:00; Monroe 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 13. Homer, E. Pitzman (I. Nevak), 1:48; 14. Homer, Weston (Shafford, Green), 4:37; 15. Homer, Otis (T. Nevak), 7:36; 16. Homer, I. Nevak (Ross, Reutov), 10:41; 17. Homer, Gilliland (Stineff, O. Pitzman), 0:04. Penalties — Homer 1 for 2:00; Monroe 1 for 2:00.
Shots on goal — Homer 23-11-9—43; Monroe 2-3-3—8.
Goalies — Homer, Strong (4 shots, 4 saves), Polushkin (4 shots, 4 saves).
Soldotna 4, Colony 1
Palmer Hockey Showdown
Saturday, MTA Events Center
First period — 1. Soldotna- Powell (Brantley III, Montague) pp 4:27; 2. Soldonta- Medcoff (Brantley III, Powell) 3:06
Second period — 3. Soldonta- Brantley III (unassisted) 4:14.
Third period — 4. Colony- McLaughlin (Jellich, Reid) pp 5:39; 5. Soldonta- Powell (unassited) en 2:06.
Shots on goal: Colony 5-12-9—26, Soldona 15-10-9—34; Saves: Colony- Shepard 13-9-8—30, Soldonta- Tree 5-12-8—25.
Kenai 1, West Valley 0
Palmer Hockey Showdown
Saturday, MTA Events Center
First period — 1. Kenai- Shelden (Knudsen) 1:10.
Second period — no soring.
Third period — no scoring.
Shots on goal: Kenai 7-5-8—20, West Valley 13-5-14—32; Saves: West Valley- Hartman 6-5-8—19; Kenai- Cross 13-5-14—30.
