The Soldotna Stars opened the Alaska Army National Guard Stars and Stripes Hockey Showdown with a seven-goal effort and a victory.
Soldotna skated past West Valley 7-5 during the first day of the tourney hosted by Palmer High School on Thursday afternoon at the MTA Events Center in Palmer. Galen Brantley III bagged a pair of goals and an assist in the win. Alex Montague, Dylan Walton, Wyatt Medcoff, David Aley and Trent Powell also scored for the Stars, who outshot the Wolfpack 34-22. Joshua Tree made 17 saves in the SoHi net.
Kenai suffered a loss during the first day of the three-day event. Colony scored a 3-1 win over the Kards. Reagen Graves scored the lone goal for Kenai.
In other tourney action, Dimond blanked Wasilla 4-0 and host Palmer beat North Pole 4-1.
Soldotna 7, West Valley 5
Palmer Hockey Showdown
Thursday, MTA Events Center
First period — 1. Soldotna Montague (Burcham) 12:45; 2. West Valley- Wagoner (Moore Wutig) 4:41; 3. Soldotna- Walton (Haakenson, Yeager) 3:13.
Second period — 4. West Valley- Wutig (Moore) 14:25; 5. West Valley- Glynn (unassisted) 9:45; 6. Soldotna- Brantley III (Powell, Medcoff) pp 7:41; 7. West Valley- Moore (Wagoner) sh 5:58; 8. Soldotna- Medcoff (Powell, Brantley III) 5:03; 9. Soldotna- Brantley III (Walton, Yeager) 3:52; 10. Soldotna- Aley (unassisted) 3:36.
Third period — 11. Soldotna- Powell (Tree, Montague) 14:46; 12. West Valley- Glynn (Victorino) 5:19.
Shots on goal: West Valley 5-10-7—22, Soldotna 11-11-12—34; Saves: West Valley- Hartman 9-7-11—27, Soldotna- Tree 4-7-6—17.
Colony 3, Kenai 1
Palmer Hockey Showdown
Thursday, MTA Events Center
First period — 1. Colony Cappel (McLaughlin, Moore) 0:52.
Second period — 2. Kenai- Re. Graves (Ri. Graves, Stock) 1:25.
Third period — 3. Colony- McLaughlin (Kirk) 9:49; 4. Colony- Keefe (Moore, Yundt) 5:03.
Shots on goal: Colony 18-8-11—37; Kenai 2-13-8—23; Saves: Colony- Marks 2-12-8—22, Kenai- Cross 17-8-9—34.
Homer 17, Delta 1
The Mariners opened up their season with a 17-1 victory on the road.
Tyler Gilliland and Isaiah Nevak had hat tricks for the Mariners, while Toby Nevak, Kazden Stineff and Alden Ross added two goals apiece.
Ethan Pitzman, Matfey Reutov, Phinny Weston and Karl Wickstrom added goals for Homer.
Keegan Strong had two saves for Homer, which had 57 shots.
