The puck drops on the high school hockey season with the traditional season opener Peninsula Ice Challenge scheduled for Thursday through Saturday, November 1-3.
The Peninsula Ice Challenge will feature two venues for 2018 with the Kenai Kardinals playing their Thursday and Friday pairings at the Kenai Multi-Purpose Facility and the Soldotna Stars hosting their games at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex, including Saturday’s SoHi vs Kenai showdown.
Peninsula Ice Challenge Schedule
Thursday, November 1
SoHi vs Chugiak 7 p.m. SRSC ESPN 1140AM and www.radiokenai.com (pregame at 6:45 p.m.)
Kenai vs North Pole 7:30 p.m. Kenai Ice KSRM 920AM and www.radiokenai.com (pregame at 7:15 p.m.)
Friday, November 2
SoHi vs North Pole 4:30 p.m. SRSC ESPN 1140AM and www.radiokenai.com (pregame at 4:15 p.m.)
Kenai vs Chugiak 7:30 p.m. Kenai Ice KSRM 920AM and www.radiokenai.com (pregame at 7:15 p.m.)
Saturday, November 3
Chugiak vs North Pole 2 p.m. SRSC
SoHi vs Kenai 4:30 p.m. SRSC ESPN 1140AM and www.radiokenai.com (pregame at 4:15 p.m.)
Hockey Divisional Re-Classification & State Tournament Format
The high school hockey landscape incorporates numerous changes for the 2018-19 season with newly formed divisions (based on school size) and new formats for state tournaments.
Division II Hockey
Division II hockey now includes all hockey playing schools under 850 students. Soldotna, Kenai, Homer and Palmer move from the large school North Star Conference to the Division II Railbelt Conference.
Division II and Division I (large school) hockey will no longer contest conference tournaments. Berths to the state championships will be determined based on conference records posted for the regular season.
Division I hockey includes all eight Anchorage schools; Colony and Wasilla from the Valley; and Lathrop and West Valley from Fairbanks.
Division II Conference Alignment
(Berths to state are indicated in parenthesis)
Aurora (3) Railbelt (3) At Large (2)
Delta Junction Homer AL Berth 1
Glennallen/Kenny Lake Houston AL Berth 2
Hutchison Juneau-Douglas
Monroe Catholic Kenai
North Pole Palmer
Tri-Valley Soldotna
Division I Conference Alignment
(Berths to state to be determined)
Cook Inlet Mid Alaska
Bartlett Colony
Chugiak Lathrop
Dimond Wasilla
Eagle River West Valley
East Anchorage
Service
South Anchorage
West Anchorage
Division II Hockey State Championship
January 31 – February 2, 2019 at the Curtis Menard Sports Complex in Wasilla
Division I Hockey State Championship
February 7-19, 2019 at the Curtis Menard Sports Complex in Wasilla
