The defending 2023 Soldotna Stars tried to repeat as Division II hockey champions this weekend, but fell to an overwhelmingly convincing Houston Hawks team, 7-0 in the championship game, held at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.
The Stars had a tough time polishing off the Palmer Moose in the semi-final game on Friday, winning 4-3 in overtime. Holding a 3-1 lead late into the game, the Moose were gifted an opportunity on two controversial penalties against Soldotna. With a 2-man advantage and pulling their goaltender for an extra attacker, Palmer possessed the maximum advantage that hockey allows, a 6-3 edge in players, for a solid minute and 49 seconds, to the end of the game.
The Stars managed to clear the puck several times but the Moose scored with 44 seconds left and again with 16 seconds remaining, both by Elijah Von Gunten, to tie the score and create a joyous pile-up by the Palmer team.
But the game would be decided in overtime, and the Stars were strong from the drop of the puck. At about the 2-minute mark into the sudden death stanza, Marshal DeRaeve stole the puck at the Moose blue line as they tried to clear, closed in, and shot against goalie Keagon O’Bryan, whose save then rebounded to Jace Appelhans to O’Bryan’s right. Appelhans did not miss the wide-open goal for the game-winner and his second goal of the game, showing how quickly “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” can turn around in any sport.
Also scoring for the Stars were Andrew Arthur and DeRaeve.
Keagon O’Bryan made 17 saves for the Moose and Tanner Clyde 29 for the Stars.
The Houston Hawks outscored their opponents 26-1 in the tournament, defeating Tri-Valley 10-0, Kenai 9-1, and the Stars 7-0. The Stars held them close for one period, trailing 1-0 after the first period, but the 2nd stanza blew the Stars away as the Hawks scored 3 times in a span of under a minute, and 4 times in about the span of 3 minutes for a 5-0 lead.
Meanwhile, the Moose prevailed over Kenai for 3rd place and Juneau-Douglas over North Pole for the Consolation prize.
