The Anchorage Wolverines defeated the Kenai River Brown Bears 3-1 on Friday in North American Hockey League play at Ben Boeke Ice Arena in Anchorage.
The win is crucial for Anchorage. The Wolverines are now 27-18-4-2, good for 60 points and fifth place in the Midwest Division.
Anchorage is in a tight race for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Midwest. The Minnesota Wilderness have 62 points in third, the Janesville (Wisconsin) Jets have 61 points and the Minnesota Magicians have 56 points.
The Bears are in last in the division at 13-37-3-2.
The Wolverines also used the victory to take the lead in the Club 49 Cup, the battle for supremacy between Alaska’s three NAHL clubs. The Wolverines now have 28 points, while the Fairbanks Ice Dogs have 27 and the Brown Bears have 11.
The same two teams play tonight at 7 p.m. in Anchorage.
The Wolverines won Friday’s shot count 43-21.
“The game was a lot closer than the shots and score indicated, that’s for sure,” Kenai River interim head coach Taylor Shaw said.
Shaw said his team had a ton of chances, but could not capitalize. With 4:13 left in the second period, a Kenai River turnover led to a short-handed goal by Aiden Westin and a 1-0 Wolverines lead.
Just 4:23 into the third period, Anchorage had a 3-0 lead as Cameron Morris and Colton Friesen scored 19 seconds apart.
“It was a couple mistakes in our own end,” Shaw said.
Nick Stevens, assisted by Kaden Hjelm and Caleb Huffman, got the Bears to 3-1 with 11:07 left in the game. Shaw said the Bears pushed hard to the final buzzer, but could not score.
The Bears have now lost five straight and Shaw said failure to cash in scoring chances is a big reason why.
“It’s hard to win a hockey game in this league when you get scoring chances and don’t put them away,” Shaw said. “Good teams find a way to put away their scoring chances.”
The Bears have a very young roster to get ready for next season, but Shaw said that’s not an excuse because all of the players have nearly a year in the NAHL at this point.
Bryant Marks saved 40 for the Bears, while Raythan Robbins stopped 20 for the Wolverines.
Friday
Wolverines 3, Brown Bears 1
Kenai River 0 0 1 —1
Anchorage 0 1 2 —3
First period — none. Penalties — none.
Second period — 1. Anchorage, Westin (Sigurdson), sh, 15:47. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 15:00; Anchorage 3 for 17:00.
Third period — 2. Anchorage, Ca. Morris (Sigurdson, Westin), 4:04; 3. Anchorage, Friesen (Bischoff), 4:23; 4. Kenai River, Stevens (un.), 8:53. Penalties — Anchorage 2 for 4:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai River 5-5-11—21; Anchorage 18-10-15—43.
Goalies — Kenai River, Marks (30 shots, 27 saves); Anchorage, Robbins (11 shots, 10 saves).
