The defending state champion Soldotna Stars experienced their first defeat of the season on Friday evening, dropping a 4-3 decision to the visiting hockey squad from Juneau.
The Crimson Bears brought an enormous contingency for their trip to the road system, a full squad of both varsity and JV players, as their needed competition does not exist at all in the rest of the SE Panhandle. The JVs won both of their contests against SoHi.
The Juneau squad went out to a 4-0 lead after 2 periods, led by defenseman Camden Kovach, who did not score any points but dominated play with puck control and frequent rushes, and forward Luke Bovitz who scored two goals with similar skating and puck control skills.
The Stars were missing key players Jace Appelhans and Boon Theiler, who were at an Invitation-only Elite scouting weekend in Anchorage, but came alive in the 3rd period with goals by Daniel Heath, Chase Willis and Payton Williams, the Williams goal coming with only 25 seconds remaining in the game.
Tanner Clyde had 23 saves for the Stars and Mason Sooter 20 for Juneau.
On Saturday morning the Stars claimed vengeance with a 3-1 victory. Again, Bovitz scored early in the game against SoHi goalie Brycen Clyde, who then proceeded to shut out the Bears the rest of the way. Star scorers were defenseman Andrew Arthur, Gehret Medcoff and Payton Williams, who again scored a late goal to put the game away. Medcoff’s play during both games exhibited tremendous effort and hustle.
Brycen Clyde recorded 30 saves, including a whopping 21 in the critical 2nd period, while Sooter marked 22 saves for Juneau.