South, Eagle River blank Kenai, Homer

South Anchorage walked off the ice Thursday night 13-0 winners over Kenai Central in a lopsided nonconference tilt at the Kenai Multi-Purpose Facility.

South — which moved to 8-0 overall this year — had eight different players find the scoring column, led by team co-captain Ryan Bailey’s four-goal night. Wolverines teammate Josh Costello also had a big night with a hat trick.

Facing the brunt of the damage was Kardinals freshman goaltender Carson Koppes, who faced 74 shots over the course of 45 minutes, including a 34-shot onslaught in the second period, when the Wolverines scored seven times. Koppes ended with 61 saves, and earned the praise of Kenai head coach Jacob Newton.

“If you see 74 pucks and saving them as a freshman, it shows a lot of promise,” Newton said. “I’m proud of the attitudes of our kids, we didn’t take any bad penalties, we stayed out of the box. Just couldn’t generate any offense.”

Kenai — which dropped to 0-8 overall — continued a confident trend of clean play by committing just two penalties Thursday.

South head coach Steve Belde said he wanted to see his undefeated crew continue to improve puck possession and movement on the ice during the Wolverines’ current three-game road trip to the peninsula.

“The puck didn’t leave our stick much tonight,” Belde said. “When it did, it left their stick with a purpose. I want other (teams) to see the best South team they can.”

The fun started early for the Wolverines with two goals in the first 48 seconds of the game. Colton Gerken knocked in a puck on South’s first shot of the night, and Bailey got his first of the night with a top shelf flip on a rebound.

Those two quick goals would stand as the only ones of the first period as Kenai readjusted and buckled down on defense the final 14 minutes of the frame. Newton said he was pleased to see his squad keep South out of the net during that stretch.

“They made it tough on us,” he said. “We kept it things out on the perimeter and tried to make them earn it.”

However, the Wolverines rediscovered their scoring touch in the second period with three goals in the first three minutes. Just 24 seconds into the second, a long shot from Nick Corbin from between the faceoff circles glanced off Rylan Marcum’s stick and popped up over Koppes’ head into the goal for a 3-0 lead.

Bailey got his hat trick with 5:30 to play in the second period, and Costello finished his day with just 14 seconds left in the game with a running clock going. Also scoring goals for South was Dylan Nibert, Josh Tyra, Spencer Lund and Corbin.

Eagle River 8, Homer 0

The visiting Wolves cruised to a nonconference victory over the Mariners on Thursday.

Tucker Lien and Brooks Christian each had hat tricks for the Wolves, while Ryan Gray stopped all 20 shots in net.

For Homer, Hunter Warren had 42 saves.

Thursday

Wolverines 13, Kardinals 0

South 2 7 4 —13

Kenai 0 0 0 —0

First period — 1. South, Gerken (Costello), :30; 2. South, Bailey (Corbin, Marcum), :48. Penalties — South 1 for 2:00; Kenai 1 for 2:00.

Second period — 3. South, Marcum (Corbin), :24; 4. South, Costello (Kay, Eaton), 1:29; 5. South, Nibert (Maddox, Lund), 2:58; 6. South, Bailey (Tyra, Corbin), 5:32; 7. South, Tyra (Klingbeil, Daniels), 8:55; 8. South, Bailey (Marcum), 9:30; 9. South, Bailey (Marcum), 14:25. Penalties — none.

Third period — 10. South, Costello (Kay), :30; 11. South, Lund (Keaton, #70), 11:15; 12. South, Corbin (Bailey), 13:52; 13. South, Costello (Kay, Gerken), 14:46. Penalties — South 1 for 2:00; Kenai 1 for 2:00.

Goalies — Kenai, Koppes (74 shots, 61 saves); South, Hogenson (7 shots, 7 saves).

Shots — Kenai 3-2-2—7; South 15-34-25—74.

Wolves 8, Mariners 0

Eagle River 3 4 1 — 8

Homer 0 0 0 — 0

First period — 1. Eagle River, Lien (Bender), 7:26; 2. Eagle River, Dudinsky (McEnaney), 8:47; 3. Eagle River, Christian (un.), 14:05. Penalties — Eagle River 1 for 2:00; Homer 1 for 2:00.

Second period — 4. Eagle River, McEnaney (un), 3:26; 5. Eagle River, Lien (Rachow), 4:21; 6. Eagle River, Christian (Demma), 6:29; 7. Eagle River, Lien (Rachow, Newman), 10:17. Penalties — Eagle River 2 for 4:00; Homer 2 for 4:00.

Third period — 8. Eagle River, Christian (Silance), 5:51. Penalties — Eagle River 2 for 7:00; Homer 2 for 7:00.

Shots on goal — Eagle River 15-22-13—50; Homer 4-10-6—20.

Goalies — Eagle River, Gray (20 shots, 20 saves); Homer, Warren (50 shots, 42 saves).