The Stars and Kardinals always close the regular season for high school hockey with a head-to-head showdown ,and as usual, Saturday’s Stars vs Kards finale’ did not disappoint.
The Soldotna Stars held-off Kenai 5-2 to close the regular season with the North Star Conference Hockey Tournament scheduled for Thursday-Saturday, February 2-4.
SoHi 5 – Kenai 2
SoHi opened the scoring a Corey Hanson backhand goal just 3:47 into the contest. Parker Lockwood added a 5 on 3, power-play goal for a 2-0 SoHi lead. Kenai’s Levi Mese scored on a 4 on 4 rush to put Kenai on the board.
SoHi extended its lead with an Alex Montague goal for a 3-1 lead in the second period.
Mese added a second goal on a short-handed attack to close the gap to 3-2 Stars.
The Stars added an insurance goal by Montague and an empty-netter by Braxton Urban, both in the third period. SoHi goalie Billy Yoder recorded 33 saves and Kenai goalie Ryan Williams turned-away 31 shots. Final Score: SoHi 5 – Kenai 2
The North Star Conference Hockey Tournament is scheduled for Thursday through Saturday, February 2-4 at the MTA Center in Palmer.
The NSC consists of six teams: Wasilla, Colony, Palmer, SoHi, Kenai and Homer.
The Soldotna Stars earn the #3 seed with a 5-4-1 conference record and SoHi will play Homer in the first round on Thursday. The Kenai Kardinals finish 5th in the conference with a 2-8 record and will face-off against host Palmer in Thursday’s first round. The winner’s on Thursday advance to the semi-final round on Friday to face either Wasilla or Colony.
The Wasilla Warriors and Colony Knights, as the top two seeds, earn byes into the second round on Friday.
Tournament coverage of SoHi and Kenai games will be broadcast on ESPN 1140AM and www.radiokenai.com.
