Soldotna, Houston to play for Division II state hockey crown

Soldotna’s Jace Appelhans scored with 5 minutes, 47 seconds, left in sudden-death, eight-minute overtime to defeat Palmer 4-3 and send the Stars to the final of the Division II state hockey tournament at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.

Soldotna (12-6 overall), the defending champion and No. 3 seed, will face top-seeded Houston (20-3-1) in the state title game at 5 p.m. The Hawks won the state title in 2022.

The Stars topped the Hawks 6-3 on Oct. 27 in the second game of the season for both clubs. That’s the only loss for Houston against Division II competition all season.

No. 3 Palmer (17-8-1) will face No. 5 Kenai Central (12-10-1) for third place at 2:30 p.m. The Moose are 2-1 this season against the Kardinals, who took a 9-1 loss to Houston in Friday’s semifinals.

In the fourth-place game, No. 4 Juneau-Douglas: Yadaa.at Kale (11-9-1) plays No. 6 North Pole (9-11-1) at noon. Friday, Juneau topped Tri-Valley (4-12-1) 7-0 and North Pole defeated Kodiak (7-12) 6-2.

Appelhans’ goal, and the wild celebration that followed, came on exactly the same net where the Moose were piled in celebration moments earlier. That was after Elijah Von Gunten scored twice in the final minute to tie the game at 3 and send it to overtime.

“I mean, if you were to write it out, script it up, that’s probably the best way it could have happened,” Soldotna head coach Anthony Zurfluh said after beating the Moose in the state semis for the second straight season. “That’s not the way I probably wanted it to happen.

“I was about to fall over with a heart attack. Unbelievable.”

Before this event, the Kenai Peninsula hadn’t hosted a state tournament since 2011, and the sports complex hadn’t hosted state hockey since 2004.

The game was a reminder of what the area had been missing, with Appelhans skating across the ice to celebrate in front of the student section.

“It’s great to be in front of friends and family — everyone here just watching you and cheering you along,” Appelhans said.

Before the crazy final minute, it looked like Soldotna’s special teams performance would carry the day.

The teams entered the third period tied at 1. Appelhans had scored in the first period for Soldotna on assists from Gehret Medcoff and Boone Theiler, while Zidane Dietz had scored a first-period, power-play goal with help from Kaleb Von Gunten and Bradford Heard.

SoHi’s Andrew Arthur opened up the scoring in the third period with a power-play goal, assisted by Marshall DeRaeve, with 12:22 left.

Then DeRaeve, assisted by Appelhans, scored on the power play for a 3-1 lead with 6:06 left.

Soldotna would finish 2 for 4 on the power play, while at that point Palmer’s power play was 1 for 5.

But the tables quickly turned when the Stars took two-minute minors with 2:42 and 1:49 left to play.

With the goalie pulled, Elijah Von Gunten scored with 46 seconds left in the game, and 4 seconds left in the five-on-three, on assists from Dietz and Heard.

Then with 16 seconds left in the game, and the goalie pulled again, Von Gunten scored on a Heard assist.

“The boys dug deep and that’s all we ask,” Palmer head coach Rusty Belanger said. “That’s what this whole season’s been focused on — go out and do the little things and the big things will come.

“So that’s what we asked of them, and the proof was in the pudding right there.”

The Stars recovered from the shock of giving up two goals when DeRaeve got the puck to Appelhans and he managed to shoot it through all the traffic in front of the net.

“I didn’t know if we’d be able to bounce back from them getting two on us,” Zurfluh said. “That kind of put us on our heels.

“One thing (Kenai Central coach) Scott Shelden always says is, ‘Goals follow goals.’ Boy, he is not lying. Tonight, it just worked out in our favor.”

Zurfluh said his top two lines of Appelhans-Boone Theiler-Luke Stuber and DeRaeve-Gehret Medcoff-Daniel Heath provided a great one-two punch.

He also said defensemen Arthur, Zack Zurfluh, Aiden Stinnett and Mykah Booth had a good game.

Tanner Clyde made 36 saves for SoHi, while Keagon O’Bryan stopped 19 for Palmer.

“Unbelievable by Tanner Clyde to hold in there,” Zurfluh said. “He didn’t do anything miraculous other than just do his job, and he did a great job at it.”

Belanger said Heard, the captain, has done a great job keeping the team up all season, while Elijah Von Gunten continues to come through in clutch situations.

“I think that’s the big plus of being a coach,” Belanger said. “You get to see young men and women develop not only skill-wise in hockey or the sport they’re in, but you get to see them develop good character.”

Appelhans and Elijah Von Gunten were named players of the game.

Houston 9, Kenai 1

In last season’s state semifinals, the Hawks were upset by Juneau.

“That was kind of the message in the locker room,” Houston head coach Lane Styers said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, we’ve been here a year ago. Let’s maybe have a better result.’”

Houston left nothing to chance against Kenai, which had come in having won seven of nine, including beating Soldotna twice and Palmer once.

“They’re a good team,” Kenai head coach Scott Shelden said. “They’ve dominated for the last three years. They kind of got surprised by Juneau last year in the same spot.”

Styers said he has been on Houston’s staff for eight or nine years. He said this is the best team he’s ever coached there.

The semifinal loss last year only sharpened the desire.

“I think they came in and you can kind of just see it in their eyes,” Styers said. “It’s like, ‘We’re on a mission to not do what we did last year.’”

The Hawks outshot the Kards 40-18. Ari Burnside had 17 saves for Houston, while Evyn Witt stopped 31 for the Kards.

Both Brody Richard and Daniel Matveev had hat tricks for the Hawks. Zasim Konev, Afanasy Efimov and Brayden Spain added goals.

“They’re my No. 1 and 2 centers,” Styers said of Richard and Matveev. “I rely on them a lot, not only to play offensively, but defense first, right?

“And those two guys, I don’t see them in the penalty box very often.”

Houston led 3-0 after the first period. In the second period, Kenai came out and was able to create some chances.

“I looked down the bench at my coaches and said the next goal is huge,” Styers said. “If they can come out, it’s a 3-1 game and it’s so much momentum.

“They’re high school boys, and sometimes when they start going down, it’s hard to bring them back up.”

With 4:31 left in the second period, Richard got that next goal and it was smooth sailing for the Hawks.

Shelden has loved the character of his team all year, and said it showed even in the loss.

“You can never give up,” he said. “We’ve got great character and great culture. We’ve got a great group of kids in there and it’s tough to lose.”

Logan Mese kept Burnside from the shutout when he scored unassisted with 3:33 left in the game.

Afanasy Efimov had three assists for Houston, while Spain, Domnin Efimov, Matveev, Konev and Richard had two, and Philip Kuzmin had one.

“You always work your butt off, respect the game and respect your opponent,” Shelden said. “You’ve got a lot to learn, sometimes, losing 9-1, but I was proud of them.

“It doesn’t take away from our season.”

Mese and Afanasy Efimov were players of the game.

Juneau 7, Tri-Valley 0

The Crimson Bears received two goals apiece from Xavier Melancon and Isaac Phelps to advance to the fourth-place game.

Caleb Friend had the 11-save shutout for Juneau, while Elijah Graham stopped 41 for Tri-Valley.

After a scoreless first period, the Crimson Bears took control in the second period with five goals, then scored twice in the final 15 minutes.

Dylan Sowa, Matthew Plang and Brendan West also scored for Juneau.

Camden Kovach had a pair of assists, while Alexander Smith, Harris Monsef, Elliot Welch, Dane Pedersen, Loren Platt, John Mcelmurry and Melancon added assists.

North Pole 6, Kodiak 2

Payton Livingston scored twice for the Patriots to lift them to the fourth-place game.

The game was tied at 1 after one period. Carter Borkovec, with help from Sam Lannet, scored short-handed for North Pole, while Vonn Arndt, with help from Ejler Durand, scored for Kodiak.

The Patriots then went up 4-1 in the second period. Livingston scored twice, once on Lannet and Parker Jusczak assists, and again on a Jusczak assist. Joseph House also scored short-handed with help from Elias Holan.

With 13 seconds left in the second period, Miles Grimes cut it to 4-2 on a Rowan Wyszkowski assist.

The Patriots finished it off with goals early and late in the third period. Payton Davis scored on a Blayne Jusczak helper, and William Slater scored on Lilly Davies and Jacob Weber helpers.

Daniel Rady had 17 saves for North Pole, while Simon Lonheim stopped 35 for the Bears.