The 2023 Peninsula Ice Challenge Hockey Tournament opened the high school hockey season for the Soldotna Stars and Kenai Kardinals with games at the Soldotna Regional Sports Center and the Kenai Multipurpose Arena.
Soldotna 3, Service 0
Seeking to defend their 2022 Division II state title, the Soldotna Stars started their 2023 season off with convincing win over Division I opponent, Service Cougars. The Stars knocked off Service with a 3-0 shutout.
The game remained scoreless until the third period when Soldotna scored two early goals in quick succession, the first an unassisted Boone Theiler backhander 47 seconds in, and the second 58 seconds later at 1:45 by Stars junior, Marshall DeRaeve, giving Soldotna a 2-0 lead. Andrew Arthur tacked on an empty netter for the Stars with 16 seconds remaining in the game, extending SOHI’s lead to 3-0.
Service goalie, Sterling Nipper had 25 saves on 28 shots, while his opposing net-minder, SOHI’s Tanner Clyde delivered a shutout, saving all 14 shots-on-goal fired his way. Clyde was awarded the player of the game.
Kenai 1, Houston 5
The Kenai Kardinals hosted the Houston Hawks for their season opener at the Kenai Multipurpose Ice Rink. A close game through two periods ultimately got away from the Kardinals, who fell to the Hawks by a final score of 5-1.
Houston’s Daniel Matveev opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal during a Kardinal’s power play in the first period. Matveev’s goal came at 5:07, and was assisted by Brody Richard. Kenai’s Avery Martin got the Kenai scoring going with a late 1st period goal, one-timing a Logan Mese pass from behind the Houston goal into the top shelf, equalizing the score 1-1 at 12:17.
The second period remained close, with the Hawk picking up a 2-1 advantage after a Carter Cook goal at 5:10, assisted by Daniel Matveev. Throughout the second, Kenai struggled to keep to puck out of their own zone, conceding 16 shots on goal, while only managing two shot on goal themselves.
The Kardinal’s came into the third period looking much more aggressive offensively than the previous two periods, but perhaps overextended as the Hawks collected two early goals on quick counterattacks. The first at 59 seconds, an unassisted Daniel Matveev backhander when sped across the blue line and was able to get behind Kenai’s defense, and the second a Zasim Konev goal at 2:06 with an assist from Phillip Kuzmin, extending the Hawks advantage to 4-1. The Hawks added one more goal a few minutes later at 4:57 of the third period when Brody Richard found the back of the Kardinal’s net. 5-1 Houston.
Hawks goalie Dylan Shaffer finished with 15 saves on 16 shots. For the Kardinal’s, Seanna Swanson, who looked solid most of the game, finished with 36 saves on 41 shots. Swanson was awarded the Kenai player of the game.
Peninsula Ice Challenge Tournament Schedule
Friday, October 27th
…SoHi vs Houston @ SRSC 3:45 p.m. KKIS 96.5FM and streaming at radiokenai.com
…Kenai vs Service @ Kenai Ice 7 p.m. KKIS 96.5FM and streaming at radiokenai.com
Saturday, October 28th
…Houston vs Service @ Kenai Ice 11:30 p.m. NO BROADCAST
…Kenai vs SoHi @ Kenai Ice 2:00 p.m. KKIS 96.5FM and streaming at radiokenai.com
