PALMER — The Soldotna Stars avenged an early season loss and scored their first league victory in the process.
Soldotna, which suffered a overtime loss to Palmer in December, posted a 3-1 win over the Moose on Thursday night at the MTA Events Center in Palmer.
Dylan Walton, Jose Montague and Wyatt Medcoff each found the back of the net to help the Stars improve to 1-5-0 in North Star Conference play. The Stars outshot Palmer 30-21 in the win, and 15-7 in the first period.
Corbin Wirz made 20 saves in the win. Noah Keil tallied the lone goal for Palmer, and TJ O’Rourke made 27 saves for the Moose.
Across the Valley, Colony posted a 12-1 win over Kenai Central at the Menard Arena. Cooper Smith led Colony with four goals. Tea’jean Evans added a hat trick. Levi Mese scored the lone goal for the Kards, midway through the second period.
The score of the Homer-Wasilla game was not available as the Clarion went to press.
Soldotna 3, Palmer 1
Thursday, MTA Events Center
First period — 1. Soldotna- Walton (Haakenson, Urban) 7:53; 2. Soldotna- J. Montague (Powell, Brantley III) 0:46; 3. Palmer- Keil (Wilson, Appell) 0:37.
Second period — 4. Soldotna- Medcoff (A. Montague, Brantley III) 9:41.
Shots on goal: Soldotna 15-9-6—30, Palmer 7-6-8—21; Saves: Soldotna- Wirz 6-6-8—20, Palmer- O’Rourke 13-8-6—27.
Colony 12, Kenai Central 1
Thursday, Menard Memorial Arena
First period — 1. Colony- Diltz (Riekena, Smith) 14:45; 2. Colony- Jellich (Smith) 9:29; 3. Colony- Smith (unassisted) sh 8:11; 4. Colony- Evans (Monaco, Hessinger) 5:27 5. Colony- Evans (Ewing) 2:32; 6. Colony- Riekena (Smith, Evans) pp 0:33.
Second period — 7. Colony- Smith- (Ko. Ketchum) 0:33; 8. Colony- Smith (Riekena, Ka. Ketchum) 8:51; 9. Kenai- Mese (O’Brien) 8:06; 10. Colony- Hessinger (Evans, Jellich) 7:37; 11. Colony- Evans (Jellich, Monaco) 6:06; 12. Colony- Hessinger (Jellich) 1:30.
Third period — 13. Colony- Smith (Diltz, Ewing) 7:44.
Shots on goal: Kenai 6-3-3—12, Colony 17-11-9—37; Saves: Kenai- Tree 9-6-8—23, Carver 2-x-x—2; Colony- Doss 5-1-x—6, Shephard x-2-3—5.
