The Soldotna Stars hockey team ran into a more-potent offensive attack in the Palmer Moose in a 6-1 loss in the ASAA Division II State Hockey Championship semi-final game on Friday at the Menard Arena in Wasilla.
The Moose controlled play throughout holding SoHi to a lone power-play goal in the second period; Palmer advances to the ASAA Division II Hockey State Championship game on Saturday.
Palmer 6 – SoHi 1
Palmer opened the scoring just :10 seconds into the contest on an own-goal put in by the Stars and credited to Palmer’s Gavin Gore. Gore scored a goal in the second period and added a power-play goal with :14 seconds remaining in regulation to give Gore a three-goal hat trick. Jeremy Horacek scored a pair of goals for the Moose, one in the second and one in the third, and Ryan Martin scored Palmer’s second goal of the day early in the first quarter to give the Moose a 2-0 lead. Dylan Walton scored the Stars only goal coming on a power-play in the second period, that drew SoHi close at 2-1.
In goal for the Stars, Ayden See recorded 30 saves on 36 shots.
The Soldotna Stars earned two selections to the state tournament, All-Tournament Team with Dylan Walton and Gavin Hakkenson awarded all-tournament medals.
SoHi also earned the ASAA All-Academic Award for the highest team grade-point average.
