The Kenai River Brown Bears were swept by the Fairbanks Ice Dogs on Friday and Saturday at the Big Dipper Ice Arena in Fairbanks.
The Bears suffered their worst loss of the season Friday night in front of 2,142 fans, dropping a 9-1 game.
Saturday in front of 2,242, Kenai River lost 8-5.
The Ice Dogs, winners of nine straight, move to 14-6-1 and are in the lead of the North American Hockey League Midwest Division. Kenai River is in last place in the Midwest at 8-11-0.
Fairbanks now has a 3-1 lead in the battle for the Ravn Alaska Cup, the seasonlong fight for Alaska junior hockey supremacy between the two squads.
The Bears return home to host the Minnesota Magicians on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.
Fairbanks forwards Yannick Vedel and Jacob Hetz each had a pair of goals Friday, while teammate Chandler Madry notched a goal and a pair of assists. Adam Kleven added three assists as well for the Ice Dogs.
Jack Gessert opened scoring for the night on a power-play goal 5 minutes, 28 seconds into the game, getting help from Joseph Kaszupski and Matt Rudin to put Kenai River ahead.
The goal was Gessert’s 12th of the season, tied for second in the NAHL and making up a quarter of the Brown Bears’ total scoring in 2014 thus far.
From there, however, things went from bad to worse for the Bears. Just over a minute later, Fairbanks’ Robin Karlsson scored the tying goal with an assist from Lonnie Clary.
Fairbanks scored twice more in the final 62 seconds of the first period, as Hetz notched the go-ahead goal late in the frame, followed by a short-handed goal from Madry as time expired.
Hans Gorowsky, Vedel and Hetz each scored in the second period to push the lead to 6-1, and Todd Burgess, Vedel and Caydin Cahill each scored in the third frame. Cahill’s goal was the second short-handed conversion for Fairbanks on the night.
Patrick Munson got the win in goal for the Ice Dogs, stopping 27 of 28 shots. Josh Creelmen took the loss for the Brown Bears with 24 saves on 33 shots.
Saturday, the Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Kaszupski and Gessert. But Fairbanks came back with a goal by Hans Gorowksy before the end of the first, and two tallies by Ethan Somoza to start the second period for a 3-2 lead.
However, the Bears grabbed a 4-3 lead before the end of the second on goals by Alex Jackstadt and Maurin Bouvet.
In the third, Colton Fletcher of the Bears had a five-minute major for checking from behind, and the Ice Dogs took advantage with power-play goals by Madry and Burgess for a 5-4 lead.
Kaszupski scored to tie the game at 5, but Fairbanks closed with goals by Vedel, Hans Gorowsky and Madry.
Alec Derks had 27 saves for the Bears, while Chase Munroe made 21 saves for the Dogs.
Friday
Ice Dogs 9, Brown Bears 1
Ice Dogs 3 3 3 —9
Brown Bears 1 0 0 —1
First period — 1. Kenai River, Gessert (Kaszupski, Rudin), PP, 5:28; 2. Fairbanks, Karlsson (Clary), 6:39; 3. Fairbanks, Hetz (Madry, Kleven), 18:58; 4. Fairbanks, Madry (Kleven), SH, 20:00. Penalties — Fairbanks 4 for 26:00.
Second period — 5. Fairbanks, Gorowsky (Kleven), 6:34; 6. Fairbanks, Vedel (Clary, Stridsberg), 9:54; 7. Fairbanks, Hetz (Madry, Burgess), PP, 12:37. Penalties — Kenai River 8 for 37:00, Fairbanks 5 for 21:00.
Third period — 8. Fairbanks, Burgess (unassisted), 9:25; 9. Fairbanks, Vedel (Stridsberg), 15:33; 10. Fairbanks, Cahill (Skelly), SH, 19:23. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00, Fairbanks 2 for 4:00.
Shots — Kenai River 12-9-7—28. Fairbanks 10-14-9—33.
Goalies — Kenai River, Creelman (33 shots, 24 saves); Fairbanks, Munson (28 shots, 27 saves).
Power plays — Kenai River 1 for 7; Fairbanks 1 for 7.
Saturday
Ice Dogs 8, Brown Bears 5
Kenai River 2 2 1 —5
Fairbanks 1 2 5 —8
First period — 1. Kenai River, Kaszupski (Jackstadt, Chavez), 1:31; 2. Kenai River, Gessert (Andrews, Campbell), pp, 12:20; 3. Fairbanks, H. Gorowsky (Somoza, Teets), 14:43. Penalties — Kenai River 3 for 6:00; Fairbanks 3 for 6:00.
Second period — 4. Fairbanks, Somoza (Skelly, R. Gorowsky), 1:56; 5. Fairbanks, Somoza (R. Gorowsky), 7:46; 6. Kenai River, Jackstadt (Nickels, Rudin), 8:18; 7. Kenai River, Bouvet (Gessert, Butcher), 11:13. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00; Fairbanks 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 8. Fairbanks, Madry (Burgess, Zimmerman), pp, 3:14; 9. Fairbanks, Burgess (Madry), pp, 6:03; 10. Kenai River, Kaszupski (Jackstadt, Bouvet), 9:35; 10. Fairbanks, Vedel (Clary), 13:41; 11. Fairbanks, H. Gorowsky (Madry, Karlsson), pp, 16:13; 12. Fairbanks, Madry (Skelly, Hetz), 18:16. Penalties — Kenai River 4 for 19:00; Fairbanks 2 for 4:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai River 12-9-5—26; Fairbanks 13-11-11—35.
Goalies — Kenai River, Derks (35 shots, 27 saves); Fairbanks, Munroe (26 shots, 21 saves).
Power plays — Kenai River 2 for 6; Fairbanks 3 for 7.
