Palmer beats rival, earns title

SOLDOTNA — The Palmer Moose took control early and beat Wasilla 5-2 in the North Star Conference championship game Saturday night at the Soldotna Sports Center.

Senior Ivan Good and sophomore Jack Reeves had two goals apiece, and senior Brennan Harrison had one.

“It took some work,” Good said. “We came in here not quite where we wanted to be. We wanted to be in first, and we had to win a game to get here.”

The win gave Palmer its second straight NSC title. The Moose and Warriors also met in the final for the second straight time.

A physical match resulted in a 3-0 lead for Palmer midway through the second period, but a late second period goal, coupled with an early third period score by Wasilla, brought the Warriors within a point of the lead.

“We don’t have a lot of finesse, but we got out there and worked hard and it paid off,” Good said. “We kept the pressure on their defense, and when they made mistakes we cashed in.”

Palmer was able to fend of Wasilla’s rally to score two goals in the third period to seal the win.

“We tried to be really physical early and tried to wear them down,” Palmer head coach Brad Hanson said. “We were aware they had the ability to come back late, so we worked on keeping the puck in their zone.”

Palmer goaltender Ashton Good saved 34 of 36 shots, while Wasilla goalie Lauren Massie saved 26 of 31 shots.

Freshman Tegan Harrington and junior Will Harren scored each of Wasilla’s two goals.

Palmer and Wasilla will both move on to the state championship next week, looking to continue their success.

“We’re going to show up Monday and get back to work, and not do anything special,” Hanson said.

Wasilla 2, Soldotna 1

Soldotna grabbed the lead in the semifinal against Wasilla when Josh Kerkvliet scored on assists from Max Hegge and Kevin Stone.

SoHi goalie Cody Harvey and the Stars were able to make that lead stand up until 3 minutes, 33 seconds were left in the game.

The Stars were on the power play when Colton Fletcher picked up a SoHi turnover in the Wasilla zone and scored on a breakaway on Harvey.

The Warriors then took the lead on a power-play goal with 1:08 left in the game.

Chancie Hanson scored on an assist from William Herren. SoHi went on the power play with 28 seconds left, but could not find the equalizer.

Palmer 2, Homer 0

A valiant effort by Homer junior goalie Alex Sanarov came up just short in Saturday’s semifinals. The Mariners were trailing just 1-0 with a couple minutes left in the game and had a breakaway, but couldn’t convert. Palmer scored to ice the game a short time later. Good scored his second goal of the game with 1:14 left. Buness and Brennan Harrison assisted.

Palmer 2, Homer 0

NSC semifinals

Saturday, Soldotna

First period — 1. Palmer, Good (Buness, Innuki), 10:42. Penalties — Homer 1 for 2:00.

Second period — none.

Third period — 2. Palmer, Good (Buness, Harrison), 13:46. Shots on goal — n/a. Goalies — n/a.

Wasilla 2, Soldotna 1

NSC semifinals

Saturday, Soldotna

First period — 1. Soldotna, Kerkvliet (Hegge, Stone) 7:17.

Second period — none.

Third period — 2. Wasilla, Fletcher 11:27. 3. Wasilla, Hanson (Harren) 13:52. Shots on goal — Wasilla (11-11-5—27), Soldotna (11-14-16—41).

Goalies — Wasilla, Massie (27 shots-26 saves); Soldotna, Harvey (41 shots-39 saves)

Palmer 5, Wasilla 2

NSC title game

First period — none.

Second period — 1. Palmer, Harrison 4:22. 2. Palmer, Good 5:25. 3. Palmer, Good (Reeves, Staskywicz) 10:30. 4. Wasilla, Harren (Fletcher, Hanson) 13:54.

Third period — 5. Wasilla, Harrington (Hanson) 1:09. 6. Palmer, Reeves (Morino, Staskywicz) 8:02. 7. Palmer, Reeves (George) 14:49.

Shots on goal — Palmer 6-11-19—36, Wasilla 6-15-10—31. Goalies: — Palmer, Good (36 shots-34 saves); Wasilla, Massie (31 shots-26 saves).