Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé head coach Matt Boline came out of the locker room after Saturday’s 2-0 home ice win over Northern Lights Conference rival Soldotna, was handed the official game sheet and mouthed the word “Wow.”

That “wow” was for a 33-save performance by Crimson Bears senior goalie Caleb Friend while JDHS put just 12 shots against the Stars’ net minder.

“The shots,” Boline said. “It felt like a one-goal game. It was zero-zero most of it so I was surprised by how few shots we actually had, it was hard to believe. And Caleb had an all-star performance, absolutely. The Player of the Game doesn’t even really come close to explaining how important he was that game and how important he has been all season. It is really nice to see him play like that. He has had a few shutouts in his career…two games earlier this year where he didn’t allow any goals, but this one was by far the hardest. The toughest opponent, the most shots, he played incredible the whole game.”

Friend darkened any silver lining the Stars had of leaving Juneau’s Treadwell Ice Arena without a loss.

“It is definitely the best one,” Friend said of his clean sheet. “Usually in all the other ones we are up by quite a bit. So this one means quite a bit.”

Among Friend’s numerous kick saves, deflections and covers was a long, five-minute power play the Soldotna skaters secured with 8:50 remaining in the first period.

“Just save the puck,” Friend said of his mindset for that stretch. “Read the puck and track it. I wasn’t nervous. I’m always ready. This win was huge. It is great for the standings and great for the morale of the team.”

Friend also was faced with a power play three minutes earlier. He would blanket eight shots in the first period, another eight in the second, including stopping another power play with 11:32 left in the stanza, and erase 14 in the final 15 minutes of action including a power play with 3:58 remaining.

“On the penalty kill, the goalie has to be the best penalty killer,” Boline said. “We didn’t have to rely on him too much on those penalties but we had to rely on him at times and he kept the puck out of the net and kept us going…If he had allowed one goal we still win, but winning by two allowed us to take the first tiebreaker for final seeding that leads to a state tournament first-round opponent. We have the advantage playing a possible lower-placed team.”

A virtual who’s who of JDHS players were also crucial in defending the Sohi team across the sheet through the weekend, including seniors Luke Bovitz, Carter Miller, Dylan Sowa, Matthew Plang, Loren Platt, Zander Smith, Emilio Holbrook and Ike Puustinen, juniors Eliot Welch, Paxton Mertl, Elias Schane, Isaac Phelps and Emerson Newell, sophomores Caden Morris, Drew Cadigan-Mcadoo and Tricen Headings, and freshmen Ryker Nelson and Summit Bos.

“Every one of them had a role to play in both games this weekend,” Boline said. “Taylor Petrie (sophomore goalie) was the only one who didn’t touch the ice, but I can assure you what she adds to the group and on the bench as a teammate has everything to do with the outcomes.”

The Crimson Bears were not up in Saturday’s physical game until 9:01 remained in the third period.

Sowa found a rebound near the Soldotna net and blasted the puck in for a 1-0 lead.

“Matthew (Plang) drove wide,” Sowa said describing his score. “He drove hard to the net and I just got a rebound. It popped out in front and I buried it.”

Sowa earned the top Player of the Game honor as he also notched an empty net goal with 7.3 seconds remaining to play as Soldotna pulled their goalie for a man advantage.

“Oh, it is great,” Sowa said of the win. “They are big rivals. Especially at home this win means a lot. There was definitely some big hitting but we stayed with it and we were good all around.”

Friend received the the next highest Player of the Game honor for his 33 saves and defensive leadership, and Soldotna junior goalie Brycen Clyde the third for keeping a clean sheet through two periods.

“This is a huge win for us,” Boline said. “We don’t have an easy matchup. We have three teams in our conference that are really, really, really hard to beat. They are hard to keep in close games to be honest…Kenai, Sohi and Palmer, they are all really good teams. We have four conference games left, two of them are Kenai towards the end of the season. That is going to determine a lot in the conference rankings. Kenai beat Soldotna 6-2 a few nights ago. They are a really good team.”

PENALTIES:

1st period – JDHS: Plang 12:01 roughing, Mertl 8:50 boarding, Bovitz 3:29 roughing / Sohi: Daniel Heath 3:29 roughing.

2nd period – JDHS: Bovitz 10:31 roughing / Sohi: Sylus Heighs 11:32 interference, Zack Zurfluh 10:31 roughing.

3rd period – JDHS: Platt 13:20 slashing, Bovitz 3:58 roughing, Sowa 3:58 roughing / Sohi: Heath 13:11 hooking, Heath 3:58 roughing.

JDHS will next host Division I Bartlett on Jan. 3-4.

NORTHERN LIGHTS CONFERENCE:

1. Palmer (6-1 NLC, 10-3 overall); 2. JDHS (4-3 NLC, 4-6-1 OA); 3. Kenai (4-3 NLC, 8-5 OA); 4. Soldotna (4-3 NLC, 7-6-2 OA); 5. Homer (1-2 NLC, 1-6 OA); 6. Kodiak (1-8 NLC, 1-11 OA).

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.