The 2015 North Star Conference Hockey Tournament opened play on Thursday, February 5th at the Menard Arena in Wasilla, with the Kenai Kardinals and Soldotna Stars both dropping their first-round contests. Kenai and SoHi are eliminated from the tournament and end their seasons.
The Kenai Kardinals, seeded 6th in the NSC, opened the single-elimination tournament against the #3 Colony Knights. Colony records a 5-0 shutout of the Kardinals, scoring two goals in the first period; two in the second and a lone goal in the third period.. Kenai’s goalie Nate O’Lena recorded 49 saves in the loss.
The Soldotna Stars, #4 seed, battled the #5 seed Homer Mariners in the second game of the tournament and the game goes deep into overtime, with the Mariners scoring the game-winner in the final minute of the overtime period for a 2-1 victory over SoHi.
SoHi lead 1-0 into the final period; however allowed a Mariner goal to tie the game and send the contest into overtime.
The Wasilla Warriors are the #1 seed Palmer earns the #2 seed; both teams had byes in the first round. Colony game will play Palmer at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Homer will face Wasilla at 7:15 p.m. on Friday. The championship game is set for 4:00 p.m. Saturday. All games will be played at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.
The Colony Knights won the North Star Conference championship with a 5-3 victory over Wasilla on Saturday. Colony and Wasilla advance to the 4A Alaska State Hockey Championships scheduled for Wasilla’s Menard Arena, February 12-14th.