In a Railbelt Conference hockey showdown between the 7-0 Soldotna Stars and the 5-1 Homer Mariners on Tuesday night, the Mariners bested SoHi 6-3 in a contest that was much closer than the final score.
SoHi 3 – Homer 6
The Mariners scored three, unanswered goals in the third period to record a 6-3 victory over the Soldotna Stars.
SoHi opened the scoring with an Alex Montague unassisted goal; Homer answered with an Ethan Pitzman goal and the contest was tied 1-1 after the first period.
The Mariners scored a pair of goals in the second; one for Tyler Gilliland and one for Pitzman for a 3-1 Homer lead after two periods.
The Stars opened the third period with back-to-back goals by Galen Brantley III and Ethan Yeager to tie the contest at 3-3. Homer’s Pitzman scored his third goal of the game to give Homer the lead midway through the final period. Homer added a pair of goals from Isaiah Nevak, including an empty-net goal, to increase the score to 6-3 Mariners.
SoHi and Homer split their two conference games and both teams have one conference loss going into the final two weekends of the regular season. Railbelt Conference records will determine the eight teams advancing to the Division II state hockey tournament.
The Soldotna Stars and Kenai Kardinals face-off on Wedensday, January 16 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex at 7:00 p.m. Follow the game on ESPN 1140AM and www.radiokenai.com
