The bracket for the 2022 ASAA Division II State Hockey Championships has been released and the Kenai Kardinals, Soldotna Stars and Homer Mariners have been seeded into first round pairing for the state tournament beginning Thursday, February 3rd at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.
The Kenai Kardinals, second in the Railbelt Conference, are awarded the #2 seed and will face the #7 seed North Pole from the Aurora Conference. Kenai vs North Pole will be the 1:30 p.m. game on Thursday.
The Soldotna Stars, 4th in the Railbelt Conference, are seeded fourth in the eight-team field and will face #5 seed Homer Mariners, 5th in the Railbelt, in the opening round. The SoHi vs Homer pairing opens the tournament with the 11 a.m. game.
Houston earns the top seed and plays #8 Monroe in the 4 p.m. game.
Palmer, #3 in the Railbelt, faces Juneau, Railbelt #6, in the 7 p.m. game.
The Railbelt Conference received four automatic berths and the Aurora Conference, two automatic berths. Two at-large berths went to the Railbelt Conference. The Railbelt teams were seeded #1 through #6 into the tournament bracket.
In the regular season, the Kardinals and the Patriots did not meet. Kenai posted an 8-3-1 Railbelt record; North Pole lead the Aurora Conference with a 4-1-1 record.
The Stars and Mariners faced-off twice in the regular season with the Stars winning 2-1 on January 8th and the Mariners winning 4-2 on January 28th. SoHi finished 6-4-2 in the Railbelt and Homer finished 6-5-1 in conference play.
The SoHi loss to Homer on Friday in Homer cost the Stars a #3 seed; as SoHi would have compiled a 7-3-2 record and 16 points and avoided a SoHi vs Homer first round contest.
Division II State Championship Hockey: First Round
11 a.m. Soldotna vs Homer ESPN 1140AM, 96.9FM and streaming at radiokenai.com
1:30 p.m. Kenai vs North Pole ESPN 1140AM, 96.9FM and streaming at radiokenai.com
4:00 p.m. Houston vs Monroe
7:00 p.m. Palmer vs Juneau
All games to be played at the Menard Arena in Wasilla
