Prep hockey: Valley teams sweep Kenai, SoHi; fall to Homer

WASILLA — The Colony Knights, Wasilla Warriors and Palmer Moose left the Kenai Peninsula with winning records after a three-day trip, but the Homer Mariners made school history.

Colony, Wasilla and Palmer all finished 2-0 against Kenai and Soldotna, and Homer swept three weekend games against its Valley foes. It marked the first time ever the Mariners swept the three Valley schools at home in one weekend, Homer activities director Chris Perk reported on Twitter.

Homer beat Wasilla 4-1 on Thursday, Colony 2-1 in overtime Friday and Palmer 3-1 on Saturday.

Colony rebounded from its loss to the Mariners with a 7-2 victory at Soldotna. Jack Holman helped the Knights bounce back, notching his first career varsity hat trick. Holman scored all three of his goals in the first period, and helped the Knights build a 4-1 lead. Holman’s first goal of the game, also his first goal of the season, came 27 seconds into regulation.

Seniors Cooper Smith and Jake Hessinger also scored two goals each for Colony, which improved to 3-1 in North Star Conference play. Mitchell Diltz and Ethan Korynta collected three assists each. Colony outshot Soldotna 26-10, and didn’t allow more than four SoHi shots in a single period.

Friday, Homer’s Ethan Kuzmin stunned the Knights, scoring with 10 seconds left in the extra period to give the Mariners the 2-1 win over the Knights. The Mariners, who outshot Colony 43-30 in the win, needed a pair of unanswered goals to grab the victory. Isaiah Nevak scored early in the second period to tie the score.

Hessinger gave the Knights the first lead with a first-period goal. Cole Doss made 41 saves in the loss.

Colony started its weekend with an 8-0 win over Kenai Thursday night. Doss made 23 saves in the win. Foster Riekena scored a pair of goals. Tea’jean Evans, Smith, Bradley Amato, Ethan Korynta and Hessinger also scored.

Wasilla also capped its three-day weekend in a big way. The Warriors blew open a tight game with a strong finish to the second period, and skated to an 8-1 win over Kenai Central Saturday in Kenai.

The Warriors led 2-1 late in the middle frame, but found the net three times during the final 3:02 of the period to take a 5-1 lead. The Warriors, who blasted 54 shots on net, added three goals in the final period.

Porter Schachle and Alex Engan each scored in the first to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead, but Kenai’s Levi Mese cut Wasilla’s lead in half with 1:13 left in the first period. Engan led Wasilla with four goals in the win. Schachle scored twice. Langston Bouma, Ausytn Bayliffe and Dylan Harbour also scored.

Wasilla bounced back from its loss to Homer with a 6-2 win at Soldotna Friday.

Zachary Roush and Slayte Wohlers scored in a span of 1:08 midway through the first to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead. Wohlers and Schachle each scored twice in the game. Langston Bouma added a score.

Wasilla finished its three-day tour of the Peninsula 2-1. Kenai was winless in three tries against visiting Valley schools.

Homer snapped Palmer’s two-game conference winning streak with a 3-1 win over the Moose Saturday afternoon in Homer. RJ Avezac scored Palmer’s lone goal, which came with 26 seconds left in the first period. The goal tied the score at 1. But that didn’t last long. Homer’s Tim Blakely used a goal during the final second of the first to give Homer the 2-1 lead.

Lee Lowe added a third-period goal for the Mariners, who outshot Palmer 32-24. Cale Winder made 29 saves for the Moose.

David Moore scored a pair of goals to ice Palmer’s 6-2 win over Kenai Friday night in Kenai.

Moore scored twice during about a six-minute span of the third period for the Moose, who earned their second straight North Star Conference win of the season. Darian Wilson, Owen Hayes, Ethan Welch and David Scully also scored for Palmer.

Thursday, Wilson scored the game-winner in overtime to lead the Moose to a 3-2 win over Soldotna.

Homer now sits on top of the North Star Conference with a 3-0 mark, followed by Colony (3-1), Palmer (2-1), Wasilla (2-2), Kenai (1-3) and Soldotna (0-4). Colony hosts Palmer on Dec. 12 and Wasilla is at Palmer Dec. 14.

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

Colony 7, Soldotna 2

Saturday, Soldotna

First period — 1. Colony- Holman (Korynta, Monaco) 14:33; 2. Colony- Smith (Diltz) 8:16; 3. Soldotna- Brantley III (A. Montague, J. Montague) 4:52; 4. Colony- Holman (Korynta, Fike) 4:22; 5. Colony- Holman (Korynta, Fike) 3:30.

Second period — 6. Colony- Hessinger (Diltz) 6:27; 7. Soldonta- Brantley III (Skolnick) 4:15.

Third period — 8. Colony- Smith (Riekena, Diltz) 6:22; 9. Colony- Hessinger (Diltz) 2:58.

Shots on goal: Colony 12-6-8—26, Soldotna 3-3-4—10; Saves: Colony- Doss 2-2-4—8, Soldotna- Wirz 6-x-x---6, Powell 2-5-6—13.

Homer 2, Colony 1

Friday, Homer

First period — 1. Colony- Hessinger (Riekena, Diltz) 7:01.

Second period — 2. Homer- Nevak (Gulliend, Lowe) 11:54.

Third period — no scoring.

Overitme — 3. Homer- E. Pitzman (Menke) 0:10.

Shots on goal: Homer 14-14-9-6—43, Colony 9-6-8-7—30; Saves: Homer- H. Warren 8-6-8-7—29; Colony- Doss 14-13-9-5—41.

Wasilla 8, Kenai Central 1

Saturday, Kenai

First period — 1. Wasilla- P. Schachle (C. Schachle) 11:26; 2. Wasilla- Engan (P. Schachle) 5:07; 3. Kenai- Mese (Knudson, O’Brien) 1:43.

Second period — 4. Wasilla- Bouma (Wiltfong, Larson) 3:02; 5. Wasilla- Bayliffe (Wiltfong) 1:20; 6. Wasilla- Engan (Randall) 0:34.

Third period — 7. Wasilla- P. Schachle (unassisted) 14:50; 8. Wasilla- Engan (Masterson) 14:23; 9. Wasilla- Engan (unassisted) 12:01; 10. Wasilla- Harbour (Kovenes) 4:34.

Shots on goal: Wasilla 13-19-22—54, Kenai 5-10-11—26; Saves: Wasilla- Campbell 4-10-11—25, Kenai- Tree 11-16-18—45.

Wasilla 6, Soldotna 2

Friday, Soldotna

First period — 1. Wasilla- Roush (unassisted) 6:59; 2. Wasilla- Wohlers (Masterson) 8:07.

Second period — 3. Wasilla- P. Schachule (unassisted) 3:18; 4. Soldotna- J. Montague (Kline) 5:07; 5. Wasilla- Bouma (P. Schachle) 13:16; 6. Wasilla- Wohlers (Bouma, Holler) 13:53.

Third period — 7. Soldotna- Medcoff (A. Montague) 11:10; 8. Wasilla- P. Schachle (Wiltfong) 14:21.

Shots on goal: Wasilla 8-11-12—31, Soldotna 5-7-4—16; Saves: Wasilla- Carney 5-6-3—14, Soldotna- Powell 6-8-11—25.

Homer 3, Palmer 1

Saturday, Homer

First period — 1. Homer- E. Kuzmin (Westin) 5:38; 2. Palmer- Avezac (unassisted) 0:26; 3. Homer- Blakely (Nevak) 0:01.

Second period — no scoring.

Third period — 4. Homer- Lowe (Nevak) 11:58.

Shots on goal: Palmer 7-7-10—24, Homer 9-9-14—32; Saves: Palmer- Widner 7-9-13—29, Homer- H. Warren 6-7-10—23.

Palmer 6, Kenai 2

Friday, Kenai

First period — 1. Palmer- Wilson (Scully) 7:20; 2. Palmer- Hayes (Wilson) 3:29; 3. Kenai- Mese (Beiser) 1:11.

Second period — 4. Palmer- Scully (Keil) 12:48; 5. Kenai- Knudson (O’Brien) 5:43; 6. Palmer- Welch (Avezac) 0:27.

Third period — 7. Palmer- Moore (Appell) 12:38; 8. Palmer- Moore (Scully) 6:29.

Shots on goal: Palmer 19-18-11—48, Kenai 9-5-6—20; Saves: Palmer- O’Rourke 8-4-6—18, Kenai- Tree 17-16-9—42.