The Kenai River Brown Bears split with the Anchorage Wolverines on Friday and Saturday at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in North American Hockey League action.
The Brown Bears won 4-1 on Friday before dropping a 4-1 decision Saturday.
The Bears move to 3-14-0-0 and stay in last place in the Midwest Division, while the Wolverines are at 10-5-1-0 and are fourth in the division.
In the Club 49 Cup, the battle between Alaska’s three NAHL teams, the Fairbanks Ice Dogs have four, the Bears have one and the Wolverines have one.
Friday, Bears goalie Bryant Marks, 17, of Wasilla got his first NAHL win.
The Wolverines outshot the Bears 36-19 after getting six power plays. Marks made 35 saves to improve to 1-6 on the season, while Shane Soderwall stopped 15 for Anchorage.
“It’s a pretty cliche thing to say, but your goalie always needs to be your best penalty killer,” Kenai River head coach Josh Dubinsky said. “He was our best penalty killer and probably our best player tonight.
“He played extremely well, especially after not playing for over a month.”
Marks, whose last start was Oct. 2, did not give up a goal until the sixth power play, when Colton Friesen connected with 10:39 to play to cut Kenai River’s lead to 3-1.
“The boys played a hell of a game,” Marks said. “They helped me out a lot. They bore down, blocked a few shots and buried a few. That’s all you can ask for as a goalie.”
Anchorage head coach Mike Aikens also was impressed with Marks.
“Their penalty kill and their goalie were the difference in the game,” the coach said. “I thought we controlled a lot of the play at times. I can’t fault our effort.
“It was just one of those games where I felt we didn’t make a play here or there that we needed to.”
Kenai River’s first two goals came off of faceoffs. In the first period, Kevin Enriquez scored on an assist from Cole Dubicki. In the second period, Gramm McCormack scored on an assist from Bryce Monrean.
Then just 2:49 into the third period, Luke Panchisin, assisted by Nick Stevens and Sean Henry, had the Bears up 3-0.
After Friesen’s goal, David Vieten, assisted by Dubicki and Brendan Hill, closed the game with an empty-netter.
The Bears had been swept at home by the Ice Dogs last weekend.
“Friday night against Fairbanks was definitely the game that we lost that we deserved to win the most,” Dubinsky said. “It doesn’t always work out in your favor and tonight we responded pretty well.”
Aikens had been down to watch the Bears play two weeks before Friday’s game and wasn’t fooled by Kenai River’s win total coming into the weekend.
“I knew they were dangerous,” he said. “We certainly weren’t overlooking them one bit.
“They play hard and they’ve got some guys that can make plays. They’re on the right track.”
Saturday, Kevin Marx Noren notched his first goal in a Brown Bears uniform to give the Bears a 1-0 lead after the first period.
Anchorage would then score the last four goals of the game.
Hunter Schmitz, Talon Sigurdson and Alexander Babich scored in the second period, then Campbell Cichosz scored in the third period.
Raythan Robbins had 31 saves for the Wolverines, while Marks stopped 32 for the Bears.
The Bears now travel to play the Wolverines on Friday and Saturday at Ben Boeke Ice Arena in Anchorage. The games are both at 7 p.m.
Friday
Brown Bears 4, Wolverines 1
Anchorage 0 0 1 —1
Kenai River 1 1 2 —4
First period — 1. Kenai River, Enriquez (Dubicki), 6:50. Penalties — Anchorage 2 for 6:00; Kenai River 2 for 4:00.
Second period — 2. Kenai River, McCormack (Monrean), 3:28. Penalties — Anchorage 1 for 2:00; Kenai River 3 for 6:00.
Third period — 3. Kenai River, Panchisin (Stevens, Henry), 2:49; 4. Anchorage, Friesen (Cichosz, Sigurdson), pp, 9:21; 5. Kenai River, Vieten (Dubicki, Hill), en, 19:43. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00.
Shots on goal — Anchorage 13-13-10—36; Kenai River 6-9-4—19.
Goalies — Anchorage, Soderwall (18 shots, 15 saves); Kenai River, Marks (36 shots, 35 saves).
Kenai River Brown Bears forward Luke Panchisin (9) celebrates his third-period goal against the Anchorage Wolverines on Friday at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
