Warriors stumble at Soldotna

SOLDOTNA — Surging Soldotna completed a three-game Valley sweep with a 4-1 win over a sluggish Wasilla squad Saturday at the Soldotna Sports Center.

“We knew going in that we were going to have to be at the top of our game, and I think it took us a until toward the end of the second period to kind of start getting our feet underneath us,” Wasilla coach Bill Sturdevant said following the loss. “We can’t do that against a good team like SoHi.”

Soldotna (7-1-1) got two goals and an assist from sophomore forward Brad Duwe to take over sole possession of second place in the North Star Conference.

The loss guaranteed Wasilla (6-2-1) will wind up with the conference’s No. 3 seed. The Warriors have one regular season game left next week against Palmer.

The Warriors had hoped to leapfrog the Stars in the standings with a big weekend. Both Wasilla and Soldotna each won on Thursday and Friday to set up Saturday’s showdown between two teams who skated to a draw earlier this year in the Valley.

But after handling Homer and Kenai, the Warriors had no answer for the Stars, which also beat Palmer and Colony over the weekend.

Soldotna opened the scoring just over five minutes into the first period when senior defenseman Kevin Garske put in his own rebound to finish off a 2-on-1 chance that started with a Duwe steal.

Four minutes later, Duwe found himself in alone on Wasilla goalie Chris Yaskus, slipping a backhanded shot past the Warrior sophomore to give the Stars a 2-0 lead after one period of play.

The 15-minute first period took just 18 minutes to complete thanks to a penalty-free skate by both teams. Wasilla committed just two penalties in the entire game, while the Stars were whistled for just four infractions.

Duwe picked up his third point of the afternoon early in the second, when he used some nifty puck handling to juke Yaskus and give the Stars a 3-0 edge.

Wasilla nearly cut the lead to 3-1 when junior forward Jade Johnston stole the puck deep in the SoHi end and passed to sophomore forward Ryder Conroy, who beat Kendrick with a nice backhander. But the puck slipped through the crease and hit the far post, bouncing back into play instead of into the net.

Sturdevant said he was pleased with the fact his team didn’t fold its tents after digging a deep early hole.

“I was happy with our effort. We didn’t quit,” he said. “The guys could have stopped playing, and I was happy with the fact they kept rolling.”

Wasilla was stifled both by Kendrick and a tenacious Soldotna defensive effort that limited the Warriors to just 23 shots on goal.

“We play defense as a team rather than just a couple defensemen out there,” Soldotna coach Aaron Swanson said. “For us, limiting the number of quality chances whoever we play against is a real key.”

Soldotna went up 4-0 when Sean Endsley deflected a Daniel Markstrom slap shot past Yaskus midway through the third period.

Wasilla finally cracked the scoring column thanks to a solid effort on special teams.

Following a penalty on Soldotna’s Zack Waters for hooking, the Warriors were able to tally a power play goal when Jade Johnston slammed home a Chance Hanson rebound.

Power play goals were key for the Warriors in wins over Homer and Kenai Central, and Sturdevant said the power play was a bright spot over the weekend.

“That’s something that we can take away from the trip as a positive,” he said.

Despite failing to crack the top two spots in the conference, Sturdevant said he’s pleased with where his team is at with one regular-season game remaining before the tournament.

“We knew it was going to be a race to the finish with us, SoHi and Palmer anyway, we knew that from the very beginning,” he said.

With the conference’s top three teams fighting for two spots at state, Sturdevant said he thinks the tournament – which will be held Feb. 5, 6 and 7 in Wasilla – is anyone’s to win.

“It’s going to shape up to be a really neat region tournament.”

Matt Tunseth is a freelance writer from Kenai.

Soldotna 4, Wasilla 1

Saturday, Soldotna Sports Center

Soldotna 2-1-1—4

Wasilla 0-1-0—1

First period — 1. Sol- Garske (Duwe), 5:18; 2. Sol- Duwe (Endsley, Fisher), 9:20

Second period — 3. Sol- Duwe (Evanoff), 3:17

Third period — 4. Sol- Endsley (Markstrom, Evanoff), 5:18; 5. Was- J. Johnston (Hanson, M. Johnston), 8:46

Shots: Wasilla 9-7-7 – 23, Soldotna 10-10-10 – 30. Saves: Wasilla- Yaskus 8-9-9 – 26; Soldotna- Kendrick 9-7-6 – 22.

Penalties: Wasilla 2 for 4:00; Soldotna 4 for 8:00.

WHS blanks Homer

HOMER — Wasilla goalie Chris Yaskus made 25 saves to lead the Warriors to a 6-0 shutout of Homer at the Homer Ice Arena on Friday.

Sophomore Ryder Conroy led the Warriors with a pair of goals in the win. Jade Johnston, Zach Korsmo, Shane McCree and Michael Johnston also scored for the Warriors, who outshot Homer 50-25 during the win.

Wasilla 6, Homer 0

Saturday, Homer Ice Arena

Wasilla 2-1-3—6

Homer 0-0-0—0

First period — 1. Wasilla, J. Johnston (Troisi, Wohlers), 6:14; 2. Wasilla, Conroy (J. Johnston), 7:56. Penalties — Homer 1 for 2:00.

Second period — 3. Wasilla, Korsmo (Conroy, Edwards), 12:48. Penalties — Wasilla 1 for 2:00, Homer 1 for 2:00.

Third period — 4. Wasilla, Conroy (Korsmo, Frank), 2:17; 5. Wasilla, Mcree (Gittlein), 3:41; 6. Wasilla, M. Johnston (un.), 12:43. Penalties — Wasilla 2 for 4:00; Homer 1 for 2:00.

Shots on goal — Wasilla 20-15-15—50; Homer 6-9-10—25; Goalies — Wasilla, Yaskus (25 shots, 25 saves); Homer, Eckert (50 shots, 44 saves).

Moose hammer Homer

HOMER — Sophomore Jared Hanson scored five times to lead Palmer to a 10-0 win over Homer at the Homer Ice Arena on Saturday.

Junior Kyle Blakeman also posted the hat trick in the win.

Junior Jonas Naegele stopped nine Homer shots to earn the shutout.

Ivan Good and Thomas Morino added goals for PHS.

Palmer 10, Homer 0

Saturday, Homer

Palmer 3-4-3—10

Homer 0-0-0—0

First period — 1. Palmer, J. Hanson (M. Hanson), 1:08; 2. Palmer, Good (M. Hanson), 5:17; 3. Palmer, J. Hanson (Good), 9:00. Penalties — none.

Second period — 4. Palmer, J. Hanson (M. Hanson, Good), 1:43; 5. Palmer, Blakeman (Isaacs), 3:44; 6. Palmer, J. Hanson (un.), 8:17; 7. Palmer, Blakeman (Richards, Ferguson), 10:54. Penalties — Palmer 2 for 12:00.

Third period — 8. Palmer, Morino (Blakeman, Richards), 0:39; 9. Palmer, J. Hanson (Good), 1:44; 10. Palmer, Blakeman (un.), 3:40. Penalties — Homer 1 for 2:00.

Shots on goal — Palmer 18-17-18—53; Homer 4-2-3—9.

Goalies — Palmer, Naegele (9 shots, 9 saves); Homer, Eckert (53 shots, 43 saves).

Moose storm past Kards

KENAI — Eight different players scored as Palmer notched a 9-0 win over the Kenai Kardinals at the Soldotna Sports Center on Friday.

Sophomore Jared Hanson led Palmer with a pair of goals. Tyler Isaacs, Nick Reeves, Dylan Danielowski, Stephen Acher, Ivan Good and Zach Richards also scored for PHS.

Will Rauchenstein stopped 19 Kenai shots to earn the shutout.

Palmer 9, Kenai 0

Friday, Soldotna Sports Center

Palmer 4-4-1—9

Kenai 0-0-0—0

First period — 1. Palmer, Isaacs (un.), 6:20; 2. Palmer, J. Hanson (Danielowski, Monarch), 7:17; 3. Palmer, Reeves (Richards, Monarch), 13:36; 4. Palmer, J. Hanson (M. Hanson, No. 49). Penalties — Palmer 1 for 2:00; Kenai 1 for 2:00.

Second period — 5. Palmer, Danielowski (Blakeman, Richards), 1:24; 6. Palmer, Acher (Reeves, Buness), 10:10; 7. Palmer, No. 49 (Danielowski, M. Hanson), 11:30; 8. Palmer, M. Hanson (J. Hanson, Harrison), 14:25. Penalties — Palmer 4 for 8:00; Kenai 3 for 6:00.

Third period — 9. Palmer, Richards (Isaacs), 3:45. Penalties — Palmer 2 for 4:00; Kenai 2 for 4:00.

Shots on goal — Palmer 18-14-8—40; Kenai 8-4-7—19; Goalies — Palmer, Rauchenstein (19 shots, 19 saves); Kenai, Barrett (18 shots, 14 saves), Koch (22 shots, 17 saves).

Pair of Knights notch hat trick in win

HOMER — Lance Nezaticky and Trevor Nickerson each posted a hat trick to lead the Colony Knights to an 8-3 win over the Homer Mariners at the Homer Ice Arena on Thursday.

Rachel Gray and Alex Conrad also scored for Colony.

Colony 8, Homer 3

Thursday, Homer Ice Arena

Colony 4-2-2—8

Homer 1-0-2—3

First period — 1. Colony- Nezaticky (unassisted) 14:11, 2. Colony- Nickerson (Nezaticky) 12:05, 3. Colony- Conrad (Boyer, Carter) 9:53, 4. Colony- R. Gray (LaFrance, Conrad) 9:07, 5. Homer- Buckley (Lewis) 0:06.

Second period — 6. Colony- Nezaticky (Miller) 11:07, 7. Colony- Nickerson (Nezaticky, Miller) 7:19.

Third period — 8. Colony- Nickerson (Nezaticky) 13:28, 9. Homer- Rabin (Lewis) 11:31, 10. Homer- No. 20 (Lewis) 4:16, 11. Colony- Nezaticky (Nickerson) 1:21.

Shots on goal: Colony 8-10-14—32, Homer 21-13-9—43; Saves: Colony- Murak 7-10-12—29, Homer- Eckert 17-11-7—35; Penalties: Colony 7-for-28, Homer 9-for-23.

Hawks edge Bears

in overtime

WASILLA — Rye Humphreys scored in overtime to give the Houston Hawks a 2-1 nonconference win over Bartlett at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena on Friday.

Freshman Zach Lovelace scored in regulation for the Hawks, who won their second game in as many nights.

Houston flew past Delta 8-3 on Thursday.

Kards edge Knights

SOLDOTNA — The Kenai Kardinals edged the Colony Knights 2-1 at the Soldotna Sports Center on Saturday.

Trevor Nickerson scored the lone goal for the Knights. Jason Murak stopped 31 shots in the CHS net.

Kenai 2, Colony 1

Saturday, Soldotna Sports Center

Colony 0-1-0—1

Kenai 1-0-1—2

First period — 1. Kenai, Hendricks (Zulkanycz), 9:41.

Second period — 2. Colony, Nickerson (Sawyer, Miller), 0:19.

Third period — 3. Kenai, Hamman (Zulkanycz, Cunningham), 5:59.

Shots on goal — Colony 3-4-6—13; Kenai 9-9-15—33.

Goalies — Colony, Murak (33 shots, 31 saves); Kenai, Barrett (13 shots, 12 saves).