Seconds later, lined up on the goal line, the entire team darted in unison toward midice, where they all dove headfirst as the packed house stood and cheered.

It must be their way of saying goodbye.

"It was the best," Wichorek said. "Home crowd, big barn sold out. Hopefully the fans got what they paid for."

For the second consecutive night, they got a whole lot more.

Despite losing a 7-5 thriller filled with fights and fast-paced action on Friday, the Brown Bears put on another show Saturday for an energetic crowd which erupted when Kenai Central graduate Jed McGlasson fought for the puck along the boards and eventually fed captain Brett Englebright for an empty-netter with 22.4 seconds remaining that sealed the team's ninth home win of the year and officially snapped a 10-game losing streak.

"A consummate team leader, captain, an '87 that's going to play college hockey next year," Kenai River coach Mike Flanagan said of Englebright, "for him to get the empty-netter and just sort of seal the deal, I couldn't have asked for a better ending."

Despite laboring through a difficult season, especially on the road, where the Brown Bears have won just twice in 26 chances, capping the home season with a victory was extra sweet considering how many people turned out for the last two games.

"We started the season with a home-opener victory over (Alaska) and then this being our final home game, we certainly wanted to finish the season at home with a victory as well, so that the fans go home happy and we leave them with a good impression as we look toward next year," Flanagan said. "Just expressing to them that we're committed to this community and we want to stay here and they've certainly shown their support.

"So, I think it's a good two-way relationship between the organization and the community. It's really good."

For a while, though, it looked as if fans may depart disappointed.

Knotted at one entering the second after Kenai River's Paul Jenkins and Alexandria's Mikael Lickteig both scored within the opening 10:43 of the game, the Brown Bears snatched a 2-1 lead when Matt McNamee fired a pass from his own end that landed directly on the stick of Tony McDonald the moment he crossed the blue line. McDonald then broke in all alone on Alexandria netminder Dylan Woodring and backhanded the rubber over the goalie's right side just 1:13 into the second period.

But the Blizzard (24-25-3) tied the game when Wichorek came out of the net to make an initial save but couldn't cover the rebound as Lickteig found the back of the net roughly 11 minutes later.

Traditionally losing momentum throughout the season in that type of situation when an opponent scores the tying or leading goal, the Brown Bears (11-37-8) did just the opposite this time.

They had a couple of solid opportunities in the closing minutes of the second and needed just 44 seconds of the third period to take the lead when Nick Simson received a pass at midice, beat his man to the outside and rifled a wrister across Woodring's body and into the far, upper corner of the net.

One night after having a goal negated which he shot from nearly the same spot on the ice and placed precisely in the same corner of the net, Simson gave the refs no reason to discount this one, shooting it slightly lower.

Matthew Carroll can be reached at matthew.carroll@peninsulaclarion.com.

BROWN BEARS 4, BLIZZARD 2

Alexandria 1 1 0 2

Kenai River 1 1 2 4

First period 1. Kenai River, Jenkins (Englebright, McGlasson), 6:39; 2. Alexandria, Lickteig (Freismuth), 10:42. Penalties Alexandria 3 for 8:00; Kenai River 2 for 4:00.

Second period 3. Kenai River, McDonald (McNamee, Larson), 1:13; 4. Alexandria, Lickteig (unassisted), 12:51. Penalties Kenai River 1 for 2:00.

Third period 5. Kenai River, Simson (McDonald, Larson), 0:44; 6. Kenai River, Englebright (McGlasson), 19:38 (empty netter). Penalties Alexandria 1 for 2:00; Kenai River 2 for 4:00.

Shots on goal Alexandria 11-13-23--47; Kenai River 14-6-10--30.

Goalies Alexandria, Woodring (29 shots, 26 saves); Kenai River, Wichorek (47 shots, 45 saves).