A long, tough season for the Homer Mariner hockey team came to an end in Wasilla last Thursday with a 4-0 North Star Conference tournament defeat at the hands of the Wasilla Warriors.
Outshot 38-13, the Mariners spent the bulk of the game on their defensive heels.
"They outshot us, but we played some pretty good hockey in the second and third periods," said Homer Head Coach Buck Laukitis. "They've got a lot of weapons they can throw at you. We were doing the best we could."
A questionable check from behind call on the game's first shift, said Laukitis, sent Homer defenseman Derek Martushev to the penalty box for much of the first period and the shorthanded Mariners did all they could to handle the Wasilla power play.
Jade Johnston and Jeremiah Walker gave the Warriors the lead in the first, scoring at 10:50 and 9:56 respectively. For Wasilla, who went on to lose to Soldotna in a second round matchup the next day, Wohlers and Marshall scored in the third period.
For Homer, goaltender Luke Eckert had 32 saves.
"Luke and our defensemen played really well," said Laukitis.
"We just couldn't score. That's been a problem all year ... we need a goal scorer."
Homer's Brady Quinn, David Buckley and Martushev were all nominated to the all-conference team and, at the regional tournament's Skills Competition, Martushev won the award for "Most Accurate Shot."
Laukitis, who said he hopes to be back as the Mariners' head coach next year, saw the positives in a hockey season with many more L's than W's.
"The good thing about our program is the young guys play and get lots of experience," he said.
"There's no reason for us to hang our heads. What we set out to do this year was to be playing better at the end of the year and that's what we did."
Laukitis compared the young Homer hockey program to that of Palmer's, noting the Moose were regularly blown out just four years ago but now, after getting needed experience and developing young players, they are one of the powerhouse teams in Alaska.
For the Mariner team to turn their ship around, said Laukitis, they need to effectively recruit young hockey players coming up through the ranks at Kevin Bell Arena.
A change in the Alaska School Activities Association rule that presently prevents students from the Russian villages of Voznesenksa, Razdolna and Kachemak Selo from playing hockey for Homer High School would help, too.
"We need a good incoming class of freshmen and we need to get the Russian thing figured out," he said. "We have good guys; we just don't have enough."
Aaron Selbig can be reached at aaron.selbig@homernews.com.