Brown Bears earn split with Ice Dogs thanks to Saturday OT victory

The Kenai River Brown Bears and Fairbanks Ice Dogs split a North American Hockey League series this weekend at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.

The Bears lost 4-2 on Friday before thrilling a packed house with a 3-2 overtime victory Saturday.

Kenai River improves to 8-7-1-0 and is in fifth place in the Midwest Division with 17 points. The Ice Dogs are 8-3-1-1 and tied for third with the Springfield (Illinois) Jr. Blues with 18 points. The Wisconsin Windigo lead the division with 22 points.

In the Club 49 Cup, Anchorage leads with six, while Fairbanks has five and the Brown Bears have two.

Saturday, Hilcorp gave free admission to fans that made a donation to the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank.

The big crowd watched the Bears come back from a 2-0 early deficit to break a five-game losing streak.

The teams went to overtime deadlocked at 2. Kenai River was whistled for a penalty that would have had the Bears playing four-on-three until the end of overtime.

The Bears were able to draw a penalty and goalie Owen Zenone zoomed to the bench and Greye Rampton jumped on as the extra skater to make it four-on-four.

Andy Larson and Rampton went two-on-two into the zone, and Larson found Rampton for the winner.

“It was awesome,” Kenai River head coach Taylor Shaw said. “The crowd went nuts.”

The Bears got off to a slow start in the game, falling behind 2-0 early just as they had Friday. Luca Ricciardi and Adam Timm had the goals for the Ice Dogs.

“We’ve got to figure that out,” Shaw said. “That’s happened a couple of games in a row for us.”

Shaw did like how the group responded, with Dario Lass, assisted by Gavin Jensen and Riley Mullen, making it 2-1 headed to the second period.

Kenai River goalie Owen Zenone also was able to pitch a shutout after the early goals, making 22 saves. Charlie Menard stopped 27 for the Ice Dogs.

“He settled in really nice and made some big saves when we needed them,” Shaw said of Zenone.

In the third period, Luke Hause, assisted by William Esterbooks and Brady Engelkes, tied it with 15:17 left in regulation.

This was Hause’s first weekend back after injury.

“Brady had the puck on the entry, and Larson kind of cut to the paint to clear a little room for him,” Shaw said. “(Engelkes) was able to make kind of a drop pass off to Esterbrooks and Hause kept cutting to the net on the back side.

“Will was able to find him for a tic-tac-toe play. It was a great play.”

Friday, a slow start cost the Bears. In the first period, Kenai River was outshot 16-8 and fell behind 2-0.

Fairbanks head coach Ryan Theros said his club has been starting slow lately, so it was nice to see the Ice Dogs learn that lesson.

Timm played a role in both goals. First, he tipped in a shot from Ian Norkevicus. Then, he hit Wyatt Carlson with a nice saucer pass on a two-on-one for a 2-0 lead.

“Timmer is a special player,” Theros said. “He can control a game when he wants to. He’s just really developed the mental side of it a lot over last year and this year.”

After the first period, the momentum of the game changed. The Bears won the shot count 18-11 in the second period and 19-4 in the third period.

Just 37 seconds into the second period, Jensen scored on assists from Hause and Esterbrooks for a 2-1 game.

The Bears then lost momentum when Kenai River took a four-minute double minor and Ricciardi scored for a 3-1 game.

“It took us a few minutes to get going again,” Shaw said.

By the end of the period, Kenai River had the ice tilted in its direction and Larson, assisted by Lass and Jensen, had it 3-2 headed to the third period.

“I liked how our guys responded,” Shaw said. “Halfway through the second period, we tilted the ice in our favor. To be honest, we didn’t want an intermission.”

After fixing the slow start, Theros still said his team has more on which to work.

“We’ve got to talk about the positives and how to fix it,” he said of the second period. “That’s how good teams develop as a group.

“We’ve got to continue to grow as a team. That second period was not good enough, and we know that.”

Kenai River continued to press early in the third period, culminating with a power play with 12:27 to play.

Fairbanks goalie Mason McElroy made two sterling backdoor saves during the power play to preserve the lead.

“There’s a reason why the guys patted him on the back after the game,” Theros said. “He saved the game for us, and that’s what good goalies do in those situations.”

McElroy had 43 saves, while Mitchell Mccusker stopped 28 for the Bears.

“We’ve just got to score,” Shaw said.

Cole Burke had an empty-netter for the Ice Dogs with six seconds left.

“A win on the road is a win on the road,” Theros said. “You take those however you can get them.”

The Bears host the Minnesota Wilderness on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1 and 2, at 7:30 p.m. at the sports complex.

“We’ve just got to continue to do our part and chip away day by day here,” Shaw said. “There’s no easy night in the division, that’s for sure.”

Friday

Ice Dogs 4, Brown Bears 2

Fai 2 1 1 —4

Ken 0 2 0 —2

First period — 1. Fairbanks, Timm (Norkevicus, Carlson), 6:19; 2. Fairbanks, Carlson (Timm, Corneillie), 17:58. Penalties — Fairbanks 1 for 2:00; Kenai River 1 for 2:00.

Second period — 3. Kenai River, Jensen (Hause, Esterbrooks), 0:37; 4. Fairbanks, Ricciaridi (Burke, Vorobev), pp, 6:47. 5. Kenai River, Larson (Lass, Jensen), 16:32. Penalties — Fairbanks 1 for 2:00; Kenai River 2 for 4:00.

Third period — 6. Fairbanks, Burke (Gulenchyn, Pendo), en, 19:54. Penalties — Fairbanks 1 for 2:00.

Shots on goal — Fairbanks 16-11-4—31; Kenai River 8-18-19—45.

Goalies — Fairbanks, McElroy (45 shots, 43 saves); Kenai River, Mccusker (31 shots, 28 saves).

Power plays — Fairbanks 1 for 3; Kenai River 0 for 3.

Saturday

Brown Bears 3, Ice Dogs 2, OT

Fai 2 0 0 0 —2

Ken 1 0 1 1 —3

First period — 1. Fairbanks, Ricciardi (Rohrer, Vorobev), 5:10; 2. Fairbanks, Timm (Burke, Carlson), 11:48. 3. Kenai River, Lass (Jensen, Mullen), 12:49. Penalties — none.

Second period — none. Penalties — Kenai River 1 for 2:00.

Third period — 4. Kenai River, Hause (Esterbrooks, Engelkes), 4:43. Penalties — Fairbanks 2 for 4:00; Kenai River 3 for 17:00.

Overtime — 5. Kenai River, Rampton (Larson), sh, 3:06. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00.

Shots on goal — Fairbanks 10-9-3-2—24; Kenai River 6-10-12-2—30.

Goalies — Fairbanks, Menard (30 shots, 27 saves); Kenai River, Zenone (24 shots, 22 saves).