Railbelt Conference hockey fills the local hockey ice with the Houston Hawks and Palmer Moose each playing three-game series on the Peninsula. The opening set of games on Thursday go to the Valley.
With state berths to be decided in the next 9 days of conference play, Houston handled SoHi 6-1 and Palmer held-off Homer 2-1 in Railbelt play.
Houston remains unbeaten in conference pairings; Palmer picked-up a much-needed Railbelt victory.
Houston 6 – SoHi 1
The Railbelt Conference leading Hawks held the Stars to a lone, third period goal in a 6-1 victory for Huston on Thursday at the Soldotna regional Sports Complex.
Houston scored two goals in the first period, added two goals in the second period and opened the third period with a power play goal for a 5-0 lead. SoHi’s Gehret Medcoff scored the Stars only goal with a penalty-shot goal midway through the third period. A final Houston goal closed the scoring. In goal SoHi’s Ayden See recorded 22 saves on 28 shots; Houston’s Ari Burnside recorded 25 saves on 26 shots.
Palmer 2 – Homer 1
The Palmer Moose scored two, second period goals and the Homer Mariners scored their only goal in the second period in a 2-1 Palmer victory in Homer. For the Moose, Jeremy Horacek and Gavin Gore netted goals. For the Mariners, Kazden Stineff scored the only Homer goal. Homer’s Keegan Strong recorded 28 saves; Palmers Joshua Horacek recorded 32 saves.
Unofficial Railbelt Conference Standings
Houston improves to 5-0 in the Railbelt and stands in first place in the seven-team Railbelt. SoHi holds a 5-3-1 record; Homer drops to 4-5-1 and Palmer improves to 3-2. All records are unofficial until the regular season is completed and teams submit final official records. The top three teams in the Railbelt automatically qualify to the 2022 ASAA Division II State Hockey Championships, two additional at-large berths will be decided following the regular season.
Thursday Game Results
Houston 6 – SoHi 1
Palmer 2 – Homer 1
Friday Game Schedule
Kenai vs Palmer @ Kenai Ice 7 p.m. ESPN 1140AM, 96.9FM and streamed at radiokenai.com.
Homer vs Houston @ Kevin Bell Arena 7 p.m.
Saturday Game Schedule
Kenai vs Houston @ Kenai Ice Noon ESPN 1140AM, 96.9FM and streamed at radiokenai.com.
SoHi vs Palmer @ Soldotna Regional Sports Complex 4:15 p.m. ESPN 1140AM, 96.9FM and streamed at radiokenai.com.
