Valley hockey squads dominate Peninsula opponents

WASILLA —Valley teams dominated a long weekend of North Star Conference hockey. Colony, Wasilla and Palmer each hosted Kenai, Soldotna and Homer over a stretch of three days. During that span, Valley teams finished 8-1 against the Peninsula squads. The Valley programs also outscored the visitors by a combined 44-9.

A pair of Valley squads finished undefeated during the weekend. Colony and Wasilla both finished 3-0 during the three-game homestand. Palmer was 2-1 against the Peninsula teams.

With its three wins, Colony continued its hot start to the 2014-15 season. The Knights improved to 7-0-1 overall and 3-0-1 in North Star Conference play.

Colony capped its weekend with a 3-1 win over Soldotna Saturday at the Menard Arena in Wasilla. Jacob Link scored a pair of goals for the Knights. Curtis Foster also tallied a goal for the Knights.

Colony outshot Soldotna 29-9 in the win.

Foster scored early in the first to give the Knights the 1-0 lead. Link had goals in both the first and second periods.

Justice Miller scored the lone goal for Soldotna.

Friday, sophomore Josh Boyer scored a pair of shorthanded goals during a 27-second stretch of the first period to spark the Knights during a 10-0 rout of Homer.

Boyer was one of seven Knights to score in the victory. Jake Hessinger also scored twice. Cole Bloemer, Otto Thiele, Shawn Mitchell, Jake Hessinger, Isaac Vincent, Jacob Link and Cooper Smith added goals.

Smith also finished with three assists.

Colony outshot Homer 43-12 in the victory. Joey Diltz stopped all 12 of the shots he saw to earn the win in the Colony net.

The Knights posted their fourth straight shutout in the victory. Colony has outscored its last four opponents 31-0.

Homer goalie Markan Polushkin made 28 saves after relieving starter Riley Swanson in the first period.

Despite a stellar effort from Kenai senior goalkeeper Nate O’Lena on Thursday, Colony came away with a 4-0 victory over the Kards. O’Lena finished with 40 saves, as the Knights outshot the Kards 44-5. Isaac Vincent led Colony with two goals. Boyer and Link also scored for Colony.

Wasilla, also 3-0 against the Peninsula teams, started its weekend with a 4-3 overtime win over Soldotna Thursday at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena.

Russell Harren scored the game-winning goal with 2 minutes and 30 seconds left in the extra period to give the Warriors the win. Larsen Tubbs set up the overtime winner.

The Warriors built a 2-0 lead in the game. Garrett Conroy scored with 22 seconds left in the first period to break the scoreless tie. Luke Schruf tallied a score 32 seconds into the second period to give Wasilla the 2-0 lead.

Soldotna’s Toma Johnson cut Wasilla’s lead in half with his goal late in the second period. Justin Miller and Clayton Longfellow added goals for Soldotna in the third. Longfellow scored with just 1:20 left in regulation to force overtime.

Wasilla outshot Soldotna 35-18 in the win. Billy Yoder made 31 saves for the Stars. Zach Curry earned the win for the Warriors in net, stopping 15 shots.

Friday, Blake Marks and Garrett Conroy each scored a pair of goals to lead Wasilla to a 7-1 win over Kenai. Logan Whitlatch, Russell Harren and Christian Rivas also scored for Wasilla. Dalton Dosko scored Kenai’s lone goal.

Wasilla capped its weekend with a 5-0 win over Homer on Friday. The Warriors are now 3-1-1 in North Star play.

Palmer finished 2-1 during the weekend. Saturday, Darren Fish scored a pair of goals to help Palmer beat Kenai 3-0. Chris Dojka also scored on a penalty shot.

Palmer outshot Kenai 50-6 in the win, but the game was scoreless into midway through the third. Kenai goalkeeper Nate O’Lena finished with 47 saves. He stopped all 33 shots he saw during the fist two periods.

Friday, Palmer built a six-goal lead, and cruised to an 8-2 North Star Conference victory over the visiting Stars at the MTA Events Center in Palmer.

Josh Meyers and Reagan Rice each scored twice to help Palmer improve to 2-1-0 in conference play. Darren Fish, Hayden Shults, Valary Dietz and Cole Clements also scored for Palmer. Fish also collected three assists in the win.

Palmer outshot SoHi 31-21 in the win. Cody Grogan made 19 saves for the Moose.

Homer scored the Peninsula’s lone win of the weekend, beating Palmer 2-0 on Thursday.

Colony 3, Soldotna 1

Saturday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Colony- Foster (Thiele, Boyer) 12:10; 2. Soldotna- Miller (Johnson, Longfellow) 9:25; 3. Colony- Link (Mitchell) 1:39.

Second period — 4. Colony- Link (unassisted) 4:28.

Third period — no scoring.

Shots on goal: Soldotna 3-4-2--9, Colony 12-10-7--29; Saves: Soldotna- Yoder 10-9-7--26, Colony- Diltz 2-4-2--8.

Colony 10, Homer 0

Friday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Colony- Bloemer (Vincent) 14:37; 2. Colony- Thiele (Link, Boyer) 13:49; 3. Colony- Boyer (Link) sh 6:34; 4. Colony- Boyer (unassisted) sh 6:07.

Second period — 5. Colony- Mitchell (Smith) 12:21; 6. Colony- Hessinger (Smith, Sanders) 8:00; 7. Colony- Vincent (Eller, Bloemer) 5:38; 8. Colony- Link (Boyer, Sanders) pp 3:45; 9. Colony- Hessinger (Smith, Branch) 1:17.

Third period — 10. Colony- Smith (Kempenski) 7:31.

Shots on goal: Homer 5-1-6--12, Colony 14-19-10--43; Saves: Homer- Swanson 5-x-x--5, Polushkin 5-14-9--28.

Wasilla 7, Kenai 1

Friday, Brett Arena

First period — 1. Wasilla- Marks (Harren, Schruf) 2:11; 2. Wasilla- Whitlatch (Harren, Tubbs) 0:11.

Second period — 3. Wasilla- Marks (Conroy, Schruf) 12:53; 4. Wasilla- Harren (Clark, Morrison) 12:34; 5. Wasilla- Conroy (Marks, Schruf) 8:32.

Third period — 6. Wasilla- Rivas (O. Matson) 7:18; 7. Kenai- Dosko (Weber, Arbelovsky) 7:09; 8. Wasilla- Conroy (Marks) 6:24.

Wasilla 4, Soldotna 3 OT

Thursday, Brett Arena

First period – 1. Wasilla- Conroy (Schruf, Matson) 0:22.

Second period – 2. Wasilla- Schruf (Conroy) 14:28; 3. Soldotna- Johnson (Brown, Longfellow) 5:39.

Third period – 4. Wasilla- Marks (unassisted) 12:40; 5. Soldotna- Miller (Nelson) 7:49; 6. Soldotna – Longfellow (Miller) 1:20.

Overtime – 7. Wasilla- Harren (Tubbs) 2:30.

Shots on goal: Soldotna 5-4-8-1—18, Wasilla 9-9-14-3--35; Saves: Soldotna- Yoder 8-9-12-2—31; Wasilla- Curry 5-3-6-1—15.

Palmer 3, Kenai 0

Saturday, MTA Events Center

First period — no scoring.

Second period — no scoring.

Third period — 1. Palmer- Fish (Rice, Meyers) 6:48; 2. Palmer- Fish (unassisted) 3:50; 3. Palmer- Dojka (penalty shot) 2:00.

Shots on goal: Kenai 3-1-2--6, Palmer 16-17-17--50; Saves: Kenai- O’Lena 16-17-14--47, Palmer- Grogan 3-1-2--6.

Palmer 8, Soldotna 2

Friday, MTA Events Center

First period — 1. Palmer- Fish (Shults) 13:05; 2. Palmer- Meyers (Rice) 7:35; 3. Palmer- Shults (Rice, Foster) 3:45.

Second period — 4. Palmer- Rice (Fish, Meyers) 13:38; 5. Palmer- Meyers (Shults, Fish) 11:32; 6. Palmer- Dietz (Bembenek) 10:34; 7. Soldotna- Fenton (Hensley, Miller) 5:49.

Third period — 8. Rice (Meyers, Fish) 9:12; 9. Soldotna- Flanders (Knowlton, Fenton) 8:21; 10. Palmer- Clements (Dojka) 3:47.

Shots on goal: Soldotna 7-6-8--21, Palmer 6-12-13--31; Saves: Soldotna- Yoder 8-9-11--28, Palmer- Grogan 7-5-7--19.