Palmer 7, Soldotna 1
Recap provided by Bob Bird.
That the SoHi Stars have a lot of talent on their team is obvious, but getting them to consistently perform must be a tremendous source of frustration for coaches, fans, and certainly the players.
The Stars won the Peninsula Ice Challenge at the start of the season, performed well in a MatSu tournament filled with Anchorage teams, but are having trouble at home. On Friday they suffered a severe drubbing at the hands of the Palmer Moose, 7-1.
The Stars gave up two short-handed goals to the Palmer squad, whose puck control was dominant throughout the game. The Moose scored twice in the 1st period, twice in the 2nd, and three times in the 3rd. The Stars’ lone score came late on a 2 nd period power play from a tip-in by Daniel Heath off a pass from Noah Crabtree, creating a 3-1 score that did not hold up.
Elijah von Gunten and Peyton Neumann both had two goals for the Moose. Goalie Brycen Clyde made 29 saves for SoHi while the Stars managed only 13 shots on goal for the game. Both teams were penalized 5 times.
Once again, sportsmanship was evident by both teams as most of the players gathered for a prayer huddle at the end of the game.
Next up: The Stars travel to Homer for a conference game against the Mariners on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 7:00 p.m. Soldotna then heads to Juneau for a two game set against the Crimson Bears on Friday and Saturday.
Palmer 4, Kenai 1
The Kenai Kardinals struggled to muster much offense against a very stingy Palmer defense in a battle for first place in the Northern Lights Conference on Saturday afternoon. The Moose held the conference lead with the win, outshooting the Kardinals 40 to 14.
Kenai fell behind by one goal in a fairly statistically clean first period that featured just one penalty between the two teams and one goal by Palmer Zidane Deitz. The senior defenseman would lead the Moose with two goals and an assist throughout the game.
In the second period, the Kardinals tied the contest at one goal apiece on a Logan Mese power-play goal, but the Moose responded to take the lead shortly afterward when Kinan Greco gave Palmer the lead once again with a power-play strike of his own.
The Moose dialed up the pressure in the ensuing minutes, adding two more goals–just 28 seconds apart–and took a 4-1 lead into the final frame.
The Kardinals rallied offensively in the third period, evening the time of possession. They matched Palmer’s six third-period shots with six of their own. However, the strength of Palmer’s defense, led by Deitz and Sophomore Kaleb Von Gunten, proved too stout, and the Kardinals were unable to break through.
Facing the offense onslaught, Kenai goalie Evyn Witt turned in one of his best performances of the season, stopping 37 of Palmer’s 40 shots on goal.
Next up: The Kardinals host the Kodiak Bears for the third time this season on Thursday, Dec. 12 at 7:00 p.m.