Gloves come off in scrappy Soldotna win

SOLDOTNA — Gloves off and stick resting on the ice, Matt Fellman dropped to his knees and hovered over the gear, rubbing his palms together. Then the Soldotna High School hockey team formed a circle around its hero.

“Stick on fire,” Fellman said of his celebration after tallying the game-winning goal. “You haven’t heard of that one?”

Fellman stole the puck less than five seconds after coming off the bench in overtime, taking it on a breakaway the other direction and tucking it under the crossbar to propel SoHi over Colony 3-2 in overtime Friday on senior night at the Soldotna Sports Center.

The win, coupled with a 4-3 loss Saturday against Palmer, makes the Stars 10-5-3 overall and 2-3-3 in North Star Conference play heading into the latter part of the season.

Fellman’s only goal of the game came at the at 7:01 mark of the extra period during a line change in which he hopped from the bench onto the ice and swiftly stole the puck as a Colony player took it along the boards toward SoHi’s goal.

Fellman got behind Colony’s defense and beat goaltender Jason Murak with a high shot past Murak’s left arm. The goal capped a thrilling victory on a night when three players were ejected and the teams combined for 38 penalty minutes.

“I saw the guy coming down the ice and I had the choice to either check him or take the puck,” Fellman said. “I took the puck since it was overtime.”

It was a physical game from the beginning as Kevin Stone of SoHi and Braxton Cline of Colony were ejected for fighting midway through the first period.

Play was stopped for about three minutes as the officials sorted out a slew of penalties when Stone tackled Cline after a SoHi player was punched in the face during a scuffle.

Then, with 27 seconds left in the period, Colony’s Kevin Hartley was sent off for a major infraction.

“Both teams came out with a little chip on their shoulder,” SoHi coach Aaron Swanson said. “The physical play was great. It’s the extra stuff that definitely isn’t needed. The refs did a nice job of taking care of that early.”

The Knights took a 1-0 lead at the 4:52 mark of the first when Daryl Belanger took the puck coast-to-coast unassisted for his first of two goals, beating SoHi goalie Dawson Pearson to Pearson’s right.

SoHi evened the score on a power play in the second when senior Zack Waters finished assists from Fellman and Dalton Pearson with 10:58 left in the period.

Belanger then scored his second goal, making it 2-1 with the Knights on a power play at the 3:44 mark of the second. That was Colony’s last score, however, as Dawson Pearson finished with 25 saves.

SoHi got the equalizer late in the second at full strength, with Jarrett Urban sneaking the puck past Murak on assists from Josh Kerkvliet and Matt Silver. That set the stage for overtime — and Fellman’s heroics.

“It should be a big momentum swing,” Fellman said of the win.

Soldotna 3, Colony 2 OT

Friday, Soldotna Sports Center

First period — 1. Colony, Belanger (unassisted), 10:08.

Second period — 2. Soldotna, Waters (Fellman, Pearson), 4:02; 3. Colony, Belanger (Naylor), 11:16; 4. Soldotna, Urban (Kerkvliet, Silver), 12:25.

Overtime — 5. Soldotna, Fellman (unassisted), :59.

Shots on goal — Colony 3-6-16-2—27; Soldotna 7-7-3-1—18. Goalies — Murak (18 shots, 15 saves); Pearson (27 shots, 25 saves). Penalties — Colony 5, Soldotna 7.