The Anchorage Wolverines pulled off a weekend sweep of the Kenai River Brown Bears in North American Hockey League play Friday and Saturday.

The Wolverines notched a 6-1 victory Friday at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage before pulling a 6-4 win out of the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex on Saturday.

The Brown Bears and Wolverines will do it again next weekend. Friday, April 4, the squads face off at the sports complex at 7:30 p.m. in the final home game of the year for the Bears. Saturday, the party moves to the Sullivan Arena at 7:30 p.m.

The weekend left the Bears out of the chase for the playoffs and the Club 49 Cup.

Kenai River is in seventh place in the Midwest Division at 21-27-4-3, good for 49 points. The Chippewa (Wisconsin) Steel hold the fourth and final playoff spot with 60 points, and the Bears only have four games left.

The Wolverines are locked in a battle for the Fairbanks Ice Dogs for home ice in a first-round playoff series. Anchorage, at 33-16-2-4, and Fairbanks both have 72 points and are tied for second place. The first-place Wisconsin Windigo have 80 points and are on the verge of clinching the No. 1 seed.

“We’re trying to ramp it up,” Anchorage head coach Nick Walters said. “We don’t want to start playing playoff hockey when the playoffs start.

“We want to play that way now in these nine games leading up to it. So by the time they get here, we’re ready to go. I thought we did that this week.”

In the race for the Club 49 Cup, the Ice Dogs lead with 29 points, while the Wolverines have 23 and the Bears have 18.

With the playoffs and the Club 49 Cup out of reach, Kenai River head coach Taylor Shaw said the squad still has plenty for which to play.

For starters, all sections of the sports complex were nicely populated by fans Saturday.

“For the last four years, we’ve had really good crowds consistently, whether the team’s winning or not,” Shaw said. “It’s a staple now, and that’s pretty neat.”

The Bears also have a young roster, with Andy Larson, Luke Hause, Luke Lizak and Owen Zenone set to age out after this season.

“There’s a handful of them that have sacrificed a ton for the organization,” Shaw said of the players aging out. “We’ve got to make sure they’re going out on the right foot, too.”

Saturday, Anchorage took the lead in the first period on a goal by Daniel Bagnole, but the Brown Bears stormed back to take a 3-1 lead into the second period.

William Esterbrooks scored on the power play with help from Brady Engelkes and Joey Gillespie, Samuel Sisik scored on Esterbrooks and Gavin Jensen helpers, and Engelkes scored on John Ross and Sam Anderson assists.

“I thought we were outworked, and they outworked us to our own net,” Walters said. “We don’t like that.”

Anchorage used special teams to turn the tide in the game, finishing 3 for 4 with the extra man, while the Bears were 1 for 4.

“This is the time of the year where you want that to be clicking, right?” Walters said. “It’s something we’re certainly emphasizing a lot now and as we go into the playoffs.

“It was good to see the guys rewarded.”

Taisetsu Ushio and Patrick Tolan had power-play goals in the first 10 minutes of the second period to tie the game at 3.

“That gave them momentum back in the game,” Shaw said of the power-play scores. “It was kind of the backbreaker for us.

“We just didn’t respond fast enough. They are a quality hockey club, and they pushed.”

Shaw said the Bears had a quality shift after the media timeout midway through the second period, but Anchorage still found a way to get Aaron Van Wie a goal for a 4-3 lead headed to the third.

Walters warned his team the Bears would push hard to start the third and Anchorage was ready, getting a third straight power-play goal by Cole Christian for a 5-3 lead with 16:49 to play.

The Bears showed one last bit of life after killing their first power play of the night, then scoring right out of that kill with 7:29 to play to cut the gap to 5-4.

Engelkes got his second goal of the night, assisted by Hause and Thomas Gunderson.

“I thought he was working hard tonight, for sure,” Shaw said of Engelkes. “He got rewarded, for sure.”

With 39 seconds left, the Bears got a faceoff in the Anchorage end and pulled Zenone. Christian scored 17 seconds later to ice the game.

“It’s just hard when you’re chasing it, but we gave ourselves a chance,” Shaw said.

William Lubimov had 27 saves for the Wolverines, while Zenone stopped 24 for the Bears.

Friday, the Bears had the game tied with 5:54 left in the second period, but Anchorage won 5-0 the rest of the way.

After a scoreless first period, Anchorage’s Andrew Karkoc started the scoring with 7:14 left in the second period.

John Ross, assisted by Thomas Gunderson and Brady Engelkes, tied it up with 5:54 left in the second period.

Just 15 seconds later, Taisetsu Ushio had Anchorage back up, and Cole Christian added a short-handed goal before the end of the period.

In the third period, Toby Carlson, Ushio and Romulus Riego De Dios scored to salt away the game.

Michael Manzi had 34 saves for the Wolverines, while Mitchell Mccusker stopped 31 for the Bears.

Friday

Wolverines 6, Brown Bears 1

Ken 0 1 0 —1

Anc 0 3 3 —6

First period — none. Penalties — Anchorage 2 for 4:00.

Second period — 1. Anchorage, Karkoc (Mullens, Nelson), 12:47. 2. Kenai River, Ross (Gunderson, Engelkes), 14:06. 3. Anchorage, Ushio (Bednarik, Devlin), 14:21. 4. Anchorage, Christian (Darby), sh, 17:23. Penalties — Kenai River 1 for 2:00; Anchorage 1 for 2:00.

Third period — 5. Anchorage, Carlson (Darby), 1:28; 6. Anchorage, Ushio (Nelson, Christian), 10:28. 7. Anchorage, Riego De Dios (Frawner, Gentzler), 13:17. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00; Anchorage 4 for 16:00.

Shots on goal — Kenai River 14-13-8—35; Anchorage 10-11-16—37.

Goalies — Kenai River, Mccusker (37 shots, 31 saves); Anchorage, Manzi (35 shots, 34 saves).

Power plays — Kenai River 0 for 4; Anchorage 0 for 2.

Saturday

Wolverines 6, Brown Bears 4

Anc 1 3 2 —6

Ken 3 0 1 —4

First period — 1. Anchorage, Bagnole (Devlin, D. Nelson), 5:39. 2. Kenai River, Esterbrooks (Engelkes, Gillespie), 7:42; 3. Kenai River, Sisik (Esterbrooks, Jensen), 13:22; 4. Kenai River, Engelkes (Ross, Anderson), 16:37. Penalties — Anchorage 3 for 6:00; Kenai River 1 for 2:00.

Second period — 5. Anchorage, Ushio (Devlin, Gentzler), pp, 1:28. 6. Anchorage, Tolan (Bourdukofsky), pp, 9:46. 7. Anchorage, VanWie (Tolan, Waldrop), 11:57. Penalties — Anchorage 2 for 4:00; Kenai River 2 for 4:00.

Third period — 7. Anchorage, Christian (Gentzler, Devlin), pp, 3:11. 8. Kenai River, Engelkes (Hause, Gunderson), 12:31. 9. Anchorage, Christian (Gentzler), 19:40. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00.

Shots on goal — Anchorage 6-17-6—29; Kenai River 15-8-8—31.

Goalies — Anchorage, Lubimov (31 shots, 27 saves); Kenai River, Zenone (29 shots, 24 saves).

Power plays — Anchorage 3 for 4; Kenai River 1 for 4.

Cole Christian of the Anchorage Wolverines tries to split Andrew Politoski and Riley Mullen of the Kenai River Brown Bears on Saturday, March 29, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Brady Engelkes of the Kenai River Brown Bears celebrates after tipping in a goal against the Anchorage Wolverines on Saturday, March 29, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Riley Mullen and Samuel Sisik of the Kenai River Brown Bears and Aaron VanWie of the Anchorage Wolverines battle for the puck Saturday, March 29, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai River Brown Bears goalie Owen Zenone saves a breakaway by Cole Christian on Saturday, March 29, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

The 10-Under A team from the Kenai Peninsula Hockey Association was honored during the Kenai River Brown Bears game at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex on Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Soldotna, Alaska. The squad won the Alaska State Hockey Tournament at the sports complex on Sunday, March 16. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)