Thursday hockey: Warriors, Knights win, Moose fall

WASILLA — Homer took its first hit of the season, Soldotna won for the first time in league play and Colony posted a double-digit victory during the first of three days worth of North Star Conference hockey in the Valley.

Garrison Holler broke a scoreless tie with 9 minutes, 57 seconds left in the third to lift Wasilla to a 1-0 win over Homer Thursday night at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla. Devin Carney grabbed an assist on the goal to help Wasilla improve to 4-2 in NSC play. Homer dropped to 5-1-0.

On the other side of Wasilla, Colony blasted Kenai 12-1 at the Menard Arena. Mitchell Diltz scored on Colony first shot of the game, 15 seconds into regulation, and the Knights buried a third of their 37 shots in the game.

Cooper Smith enjoyed a seven-point night Thursday, bagging four goals and three assists. Tae’jean Evans added five points, a hat trick and two assists. Jake Hessinger (2-2-4) and Dane Jellich (1-3-4) chipped in four points each.

Levi Mese scored the lone goal for Kenai.

In Palmer, the Soldotna Stars avenged an early-season and scored their first league victory in the process

Soldotna, which suffered an overtime loss to Palmer in December, posted a 3-1 win over the Moose Thursday night at the MTA Events Center in Palmer.

Dylan Walton, Jose Montague and Wyatt Medcoff each found the back of the net to help the Stars improve to 1-5-0 in North Star Conference play. The Stars outshot Palmer 30-21 in the win, and 15-7 in the first period.

Corbin Wirz made 20 saves in the win. Noah Keil tallied the lone goal for Palmer, and TJ O’Rourke made 27 saves for the Moose.

The full weekend of hockey continues Friday night with Homer at Colony, Soldotna at Wasilla and Kenai at Palmer. Each game starts at 7 p.m.

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

Colony 12, Kenai Central 1

Thursday, Menard Memorial Arena

First period — 1. Colony- Diltz (Riekena, Smith) 14:45; 2. Colony- Jellich (Smith) 9:29; 3. Colony- Smith (unassisted) sh 8:11; 4. Colony- Evans (Monaco, Hessinger) 5:27 5. Colony- Evans (Ewing) 2:32; 6. Colony- Riekena (Smith, Evans) pp 0:33.

Second period — 7. Colony- Smith- (Ko. Ketchum) 0:33; 8. Colony- Smith (Riekena, Ka. Ketchum) 8:51; 9. Kenai- Mese (O’Brien) 8:06; 10. Colony- Hessinger (Evans, Jellich) 7:37; 11. Colony- Evans (Jellich, Monaco) 6:06; 12. Colony- Hessinger (Jellich) 1:30.

Third period — 13. Colony- Smith (Diltz, Ewing) 7:44.

Shots on goal: Kenai 6-3-3—12, Colony 17-11-9—37; Saves: Kenai- Tree 9-6-8—23, Carver 2-x-x—2; Colony- Doss 5-1-x—6, Shephard x-2-3—5.

Soldotna 3, Palmer 1

Thursday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Soldotna- Walton (Haakenson, Urban) 7:53; 2. Soldotna- J. Montague (Powell, Brantley III) 0:46; 3. Palmer- Keil (Wilson, Appell) 0:37.

Second period — 4. Soldotna- Medcoff (A. Montague, Brantley III) 9:41.

Shots on goal: Soldotna 15-9-6—30, Palmer 7-6-8—21; Saves: Soldotna- Wirz 6-6-8—20, Palmer- O’Rourke 13-8-6—27.