Senior uses hat trick to lead Palmer into the Division II hockey state championship game

The Palmer Moose are headed back to the Division II state championship game for the second time in the last four years.

Palmer earned its spot in the final with a 5-2 victory over Juneau-Douglas during the semifinal round of the ASAA First National Cup Division II state hockey tournament Friday evening at the Soldotna Sports Complex in Soldotna.

Senior Elijah Von Gunten netted the hat trick to help lead the Moose to the championship. Second-seeded Palmer will play top-seeded Soldotna Saturday at 5 p.m.

Cooper Frank and Kaleb Von Gunten also scored for the Moose. Kai Curl made 16 saves in goal in the Palmer win.

The Stars edged rival Kenai 2-1 in the other semifinal, scoring the game-winner during the final minute of overtime.

Frank and Elijah Von Gunten are among 12 seniors on the Moose who have another crack at winning a state title during their high school careers. Palmer played in the 2022 state title game when these seniors were freshmen, but fell to Mat-Su rival Houston 4-2. In the last two years, Palmer suffered back-to-back one-goal losses to Soldotna in state semifinals. The Stars won the 2023 state title and finished second with a loss to Houston in the final last year.

SoHi was 2-1-0 against Palmer during the 2024-25 regular season.

Elijah Von Gunten gave Palmer the early lead Friday, scoring a 6-on-5 goal less than three minutes into regulation. Shortly after a delayed Juneau-Douglas penalty, Von Gunten scored the goal, set up by a pass from fellow senior Kinan Greco.

Less than a minute into the second period, Greco set up Von Gunten once again. Greco took a pass from Bryce Horacek, skated between the circles, and shifted the puck to the right wing circle. Von Gunten buried the shot to give the Moose the 3-1 lead.

About four minutes later, Bryce Horacek dropped the puck back to Von Gunten, who weaved through traffic on the right side of the ice and notched his hat trick.

With about four minutes left in the third Elijah Von Gunten’s younger brother Kaleb led a 2-on-0 up the ice and scored shorthanded to push it to 5-1.

Frank’s goal for the Moose came with 3:33 left in the first. The senior picked up rebound off a Brandon Horacek shot and snapped a wrister from the left wing circle.

Dylan Sowa scored both goals for Juneau. Caleb Friend made 36 saves in the loss.

Earlier in the day, third-seeded Houston bounced back from its upset loss in the first round with a 9-1 win over Tri-Valley in the consolation round.

Daniel Matveev grabbed the hat trick for the Hawks, and added four assists. Andrey Efimov also had a hat trick. Zasim Konev finished with two goals and four assists. Owen Hunter also scored. Ashton Vandersloot made 18 saves.

The Hawks will play Delta Saturday at noon in the fourth-place game.

Contact Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz at editor@frontiersman.com.