The Kenai River Brown Bears lost to the Springfield (Illinois) Jr. Blues on Friday and Saturday at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in North American Hockey League play.
Kenai River fell 7-5 on Friday and 4-1 on Saturday to lose the three-game series 2-1.
The two losses blunt the Brown Bears’ momentum in the playoff chase. After Thursday’s 7-4 victory over Springfield, Kenai River had points in 11 of the past 12 games.
Kenai River sits in seventh place in the Midwest Division at 20-23-4-3, good for 47 points. The Bears have 10 games left to play. Springfield is in fifth at 24-22-1-2, good for 51 points. The Chippewa (Wisconsin) Steel hold the fourth and final playoff spot with 54 points.
Kenai River head coach Taylor Shaw said not only did his squad give up 15 goals in three games, but the Bears also fell behind each night.
“We have to get back to playing to our identity and having some urgency,” Shaw said. “We can only control what we can control, so we just have to worry about that.”
Kenai River hosts the Anchorage Wolverines on Friday, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. The two squads then travel to Sullivan Arena for a 7:30 p.m. contest on Saturday, March 15.
Saturday, the Jr. Blues went up 2-0 in the first period on goals from Aidan Hickok and Luke Sawicky.
With 1:12 left in the first period, Luke Hause, assisted by Wes Berg and Thomas Gunderson, made it 2-1.
Cruz Martin closed out the game for the Jr. Blues with goals in the second and third periods.
“Especially tonight, they just outplayed us,” Shaw said. “They had more urgency and jam, and their goaltender played well.”
Jack Kavetsky made 35 stops for the Jr. Blues, while Mitchell Mccusker saved 33 for Kenai River.
Friday, the Bears trailed for most of the night until Riley Mullen, assisted by Carter McCormick and Luke Lizak, scored with 17:07 left in the game to tie it at 5. With 15:41 left, Sawicky scored on the power play for Springfield, then Tyler Smith iced it with 10 seconds left on an empty-netter.
The Jr. Blues grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Logan Sutton and Gaige Giblin. John Ross, assisted by Brady Engelkes, got it back to 2-1, but Gaige Giblin scored on the power play for a 3-1 game headed to the second period.
Conner Broadhead got another power-play goal for the Blues to open the second period. The Bears got it back to 4-3 when Gunderson scored unassisted and Carter McCormick scored on the power play, assisted by William Esterbrooks and Engelkes.
Roy Chung then scored for the Jr. Blues, but Joel Hanson scored unassisted for the Bears to make it 5-4 headed to the third period.
Owen Zenone made 15 saves on 21 shots for Kenai River, while Kavetsky topped 21 of 26 for the Jr. Blues.
Friday
Jr. Blues 7, Brown Bears 5
Spr 3 2 2 —7
Ken 1 3 1 —5
First period — 1. Springfield, Sutton (Broadhead), 9:04; 2. Springfield, Giblin (Laus), 10:45. 3. Kenai River, Ross (Engelkes), 11:49. 4. Springfield, Giblin (Martin), pp, 12:57. Penalties — Kenai River 3 for 6:00.
Second period — 5. Springfield, Broadhead (un.), pp, 0:32. 6. Kenai River, Gunderson (un.), 10:17. 7. Kenai River, McCormick (Esterbrooks, Engelkes), pp, 12:52. 8. Springfield, Chung (Smith), 16:15; 9. Kenai River, Hanson (un.), 17:57. Penalties — Springfield 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 10. Kenai River, Mullen (McCormick, Lizak), 2:53. 11. Springfield, Sawicky (un.), pp, 4:19. 12. Springfield, Smith (un.), en, 19:50. Penalties — Sprinfield 5 for 10:00; Kenai River 3 for 17:00.
Shots on goal — Springfield 11-9-2—22; Kenai River 6-13-7—26.
Goalies — Springfield, Kavetsky (26 shots, 21 saves); Kenai River, Zenone (21 shots, 15 saves).
Power plays — Springfield 3 for 5; Kenai River 1 for 6.
Saturday
Jr. Blues 4, Brown Bears 1
Spr 2 1 1 —4
Ken 1 0 0 —1
First period — 1. Springfield, Hickok (Winkleback, Broadhead), 3:42; 2. Springfield, Sawicky (Grant), 7:42. 3. Kenai River, Hause (Berg, Gunderson), 18:48. Penalties — Springfield 1 for 2:00; Kenai River 2 for 4:00.
Second period — 4. Springfield, Martin (Chung, Kwak), 7:29. Penalties — Springfield 5 for 32:00; Kenai River 6 for 31:00.
Third period — 5. Springfield, Martin (Kwak, Grant), 4:58. Penalties — Springfield 3 for 6:00; Kenai River 1 for 2:00.
Shots on goal — Springfield 16-10-11—37; Kenai River 10-13-13—36.
Goalies — Springfield, Kavetsky (36 shots, 35 saves); Kenai River, Mccusker (37 shots, 33 saves).
Power plays — Springfield 0 for 5, Kenai River 0 for 6.
