Kenai River Brown Bears goaltender Landon Pavlisin was named the Bauer Hockey Midwest Division Star of the Week by the North American Hockey League on Monday.
Pavlisin, 20, was in net both Friday and Saturday as the Brown Bears picked up a sweep of the Amarillo (Texas) Bulls, who even after the sweep are just three points behind the top NAHL record in the league with a 39-10-2-3 mark.
Pavlisin, who is from Orange County, California, stopped 66 or 69 shots over the weekend. Friday, the 6-foot-0, 170-pound netminder stopped 33 in a 3-2 win, then Saturday Pavlisin again stopped 33 in a 5-1 victory.
“Landon played very well for us this weekend,” Kenai River head coach Kevin Murdock said in a released statement. “He battled hard both nights and made some big saves for us late in both games.
“He worked hard during our off week to get himself refocused and prepared for this weekend and it paid off.”
It was a far different story than Jan. 3 and 4, when the Bears lost 5-1 and 8-1 to the Bulls in Amarillo. Pavlisin took the loss in the first game. In the second game, he allowed three goals on eight shots before getting pulled.
