The Houston Hawks, #1 seed on the Division II hockey championship bracket, completed a tournament sweep with a 4-2 victory over the Palmer Moose and Houston claims the 2022 ASAA Division II State Hockey Championship.
Houston 4 – Palmer 2
The Palmer Moose opened the scoring with a Carter Greco goal at 4:35 of the first period. The Hawks answered with the first of two goals by Anfin Efimov at 5:22 for a 1-1 tie.
The second period featured outstanding goaltending by Palmer’s Joshua Noracek, 17 save on 18 shots in the period, and a second Efimov goal for a 2-1 Houston lead.
Daniel Matveev gave the Hawks an insurance goal with only two minutes remaining. Palmer answered with an Elijah Von Gunten goal, :50 seconds later, to draw the Moose to within a goal at 3-2. Houston closed the scoring with an empty-netter by Brody Richard and a 4-2 championship game victory for the Houston Hawks.
Division II All-Tournament Team Selections
Homer
Keegan Strong-Homer: Strong is selected to the all-tournament team for a third-straight year (2020-2022).
Casey Otis and Hunter Green (2nd selection)
Kenai
Daniel Shelden
SoHi
Dylan Dahlgren
Houston
Daniel Matveev, Anfim Konev and Eric Preboski
Palmer
Stuart McQuillin, Carter Greco and Xander Logan
North Pole
Nic Clark