Friday: Brown Bears hold off Jr. Blues

The Kenai River Brown Bears defeated the Springfield (Illinois) Jr. Blues 4-3 on Friday in North American Hockey League play at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.

After winning the first two games of this series, and the first four games of the season, against the Jr. Blues, Kenai River looks for the sweep Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the sports complex.

The Bears, at 8-7-1-0 and 17 points, are in third place in the Midwest Division behind the Minnesota Wilderness at 22 points and Janesville (Wisconsin) Jets at 18 points.

The Chippewa (Wisconsin) Steel, Anchorage Wolverines and Wisconsin Windigo are all tied for fourth with 16 points, while the Fairbanks Ice Dogs have 14 and the Jr. Blues sit at 4-10-2-0 with 10 points.

Each team got a goal in the first period, with Kotaro Tsutsumi scoring unassisted and Logan Sutton scoring for the Jr. Blues on assists from Zach Howard and Aidan Dyer.

Both Kenai River head coach Taylor Shaw and Springfield head coach Todd Pococke thought the Jr. Blues had the better of the play in the first period.

“I was really happy with our first period,” Pococke said. “I think we got a little ahead of ourselves after a good first, thought it was going to be a little easy and took it a little light there.”

Bears were up 3-1 by the time the first half of the second period was over. Hayden Walters, assisted by Norris and Nick Stevens, scored on a rebound goal.

Then Owen Hanson, assisted by Jacob Margarit and Norris, scored on a shot that bounded off the back boards.

“It’s something that’s been lacking in our game, so we’ve worked really hard on it over the past week and a half to make sure we’re doing a better job getting to the net,” Shaw said. “The guys got rewarded.”

With 19:12 left in the game, Tsutsumi scored on the power-play for his second goal of the game. The rebound goal was assisted by Stevens and Dylan Contreras.

Tsutsumi said the team battled hard all evening.

“It was good pressure,” he said. “We have many fast players. It was good pressure in the zone.”

Pococke said Kenai River’s last three goals show bad things happen when the puck gets to the net.

“We talked about blocking shots a little bit more,” he said. “I give them a lot of credit. They take pride in blocking shots.

“If we don’t block those shots, it gets pretty scrambly in front there. Pucks are bouncing around and they were able to capitalize.”

The Bears did not do a good job holding onto the 4-1 lead. Kenai River took a couple penalties and Trey Jefferis cut the lead to 4-2 on a four-on-three power play with 16:20 left.

With 11:16 to play, Kenai River appeared to have a 5-2 lead but the goal was called off due to a high stick.

After the goal was waived off, Springfield kept pressing until Jefferis, assisted by Kyle Henke and Andrew Schultz, made it 4-3 with 6:40 left. The goal came 29 seconds after Jagur McClelland rung the side pipe for the Jr. Blues.

Tsutsumi said Kenai River’s aggressive attitude that worked well in building the lead didn’t work so well in holding that lead.

“Bad D zone play,” he said. “We think go, go, attack, attack, attack. No D.”

The Jr. Blues pulled the goalie with a minute left and hit the crossbar with 35 seconds left, but Conor Sullivan, who finished with 30 saves, was able to hold the fort. Nick Bunch stopped 34 for the Jr. Blues.

“I was happy with our six-on-five play,” Pococke said. “Guys were competing.

“That one off the crossbar could have changed it there.”

Shaw said the Bears did not manage the puck well in the latter part of the game, and gave too much time and space.

“We’ve got another one tomorrow, right?” Shaw said. “So we’ve just got to reset and get back to work because at the end of the day, they’re going to make mistakes and we’re hoping we can teach them to do it the right way.”