Hawks cruise to hockey wins over Hutchison

WASILLA — As the Houston Hawks hosted their first series following the holiday break, seniors Reed Humphreys and Kai Kingery scored, and scored, and score some more.

The duo combined for 13 goals in two games as Houston cruised to a two-game Greatland Conference sweep of visiting Hutchison at the Big Lake Recreation Center.

Humphreys and Kingery combined for nine goals during a 12-1 win over Hutchison Saturday. Kingery, a forward, opened the game with a natural hat trick, scoring three times within the first 10 minutes of play. He added his fourth goal late. Humphreys recorded a game-high five goals in the win. The defenseman tallied a pair in each of the first two periods of the win, and added his fifth goal in the third. Blake Rogers, Kaitlin Norton and Isaiah Squires also scored for the Hawks, who out shot Hutchison 67-10.

The win came after Humphreys bagged four goals the night before, in a 9-1 win over Hutchison. Squires and Riley Scott added two goals each. Rogers also scored.

Houston goalie Josh Smoldon recorded both wins.

Division II Houston improved to 6-0 in Greatland Conference play with victories. The Hawks have recorded two-game conference sweeps of Tri-Valley, Delta and Hutchison. The Hawks have outscored their conference opponents 52-6.

Big weekend in the North Star Conference

A big weekend in the North Star Conference starts Thursday in the Valley.

Homer, Kenai and Soldotna make the trip north to play Colony, Palmer and Wasilla over a three-day weekend. A key for the Valley squads is catching up with first-place Homer, which sits on top of the standings with a 5-0 record. The Mariners visit Wasilla Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena, Colony Friday at 7 at the Menard Arena and Palmer Saturday afternoon at the MTA Events Center.

Colony is in second place in the conference, with a 4-1 mark. Wasilla is third at 3-2, followed by Palmer at 2-3.

Kenai is 1-4, while Soldotna (0-5) is still searching for its first conference win of the season.

Kenai is at Colony Thursday, Palmer Friday and Wasilla on Saturday. Soldotna is at Palmer Thursday, Wasilla Friday and Colony on Saturday.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Houston 12, Hutchison 1

Saturday, Big Lake Recreation Center

First period — 1. Houston- Kingery (unassisted) 9:44;; 2. Houston- Kingery (Scott) 7:29; 3. Houston- Kingery (Scott) 5:27; 4. Houston- Humphreys (unassisted) 2:52; 5. Houston- Rogers (Humphreys) 2:09; 6. Houston- Humphreys (unassisted) pp 0:45.

Second period — 7. Houston- Squires (Scott) 14:17; 8. Hutchison- Skellie (unassisted) 13:36; 9. Houston- Norton (Plumb, Humphreys) 11:34; 10. Houston- Humphreys (unassisted) sh 3:56; 11. Houston- Humphreys (unassisted) 2:17.

Third period — 12. Houston- Humphreys (unassisted) sh 9:15; 13. Houston- Kingery (unassisted) sh 8:50.

Shots on goal: Hutchison 5-3-2—10, Houston 34-22-11—67; Saves: Hutchison- Berrian 28-18-9—55, Houston- Smoldon 5-2-2—9.

Houston 9, Hutchison 1

Friday, Big Lake Recreation Center

First period — no scoring.

Second period — 1. Houston- Squires (Humphreys, H. Chivers) 13:46; 2. Houston- Humphreys (unassisted) 13:11; 3 Houston- Humphreys (unassisted) 12:09; 4. Houston- Humphreys (Nix) 9:23; 5 Houston- Scott (Kingery) 7:49; 6. Houston- Squires (Kingery, Jones) 042; 7. Houston- Humphreys (unassisted) 0:32.

Third period — 8. Hutchison- Bronson (Skellie) 10:02; 9. Houston- Rogers (Gillespie) 8:19 10. Houston- Scott (Kingery, Humphreys) 2:06.

Shots on goal: Hutchison 8-1-5—14, Houston 4-18-10—32; Saves: Hutchison- Brunty 4-x-x—4, Berrian x-11-8—19.