Saturday: Brown Bears bounce back to defeat Ice Dogs

The Kenai River Brown Bears defeated the Fairbanks Ice Dogs 6-3 on Saturday in North American Hockey League action at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.

The two old rivals split the two-game series, with Fairbanks winning 6-2 on Friday.

Marko Giourof had a hat trick for the Bears on Saturday, while Jackson Ebbott had two goals and an assist, and Joe Manning and Roope Tuomioksa each had three assists.

“We were pretty upset about it,” Giourof said about allowing five unanswered goals to the Ice Dogs on Friday. “Last night was a heartbreaker for sure.

“We came out and we were buzzing. We need a little more of that. All of those guys in there are true guys — they’ll battle their hearts out. Let’s keep this going.”

The weekend leaves all eight of the Midwest Division teams within nine points of each other, with the Minnesota Wilderness in first with 24 points and the Springfield (Illinois) Jr. Blues in last with 15 points.

The Wisconsin Windigo are in second with 22 points, while the Bears are third at 9-9-1-0 for 19 points.

The Anchorage Wolverines, Janesville (Wisconsin) Jets and Ice Dogs (7-8-1-3) are all tied for fourth with 18 points, while the Chippewa (Wisconsin) Steel have 16 points.

“It’s probably the closest division out of the entire league,” Fairbanks head coach Ryan Theros said. “You have to show up each game, you can’t just show up and think you’re going to win a game.

“The standings show that.”

Kenai River head coach Taylor Shaw has been looking for consistency out of his team all season.

“The boys played more of a complete game tonight, I thought,” Shaw said. “Hopefully they can see and feel how it feels now. When they do the right things, they get rewarded for it.”

The teams came out trading chances and goals. Jake Cameron put the Ice Dogs up 1-0 in the first, but Ebbott, assisted by Luke Hause and Tuomioksa, and Giourof, assisted by Tuomioksa and Manning, had it 2-1 by the end of the first.

The chances kept coming in the second period. Nick Blood tied it for Fairbanks, but Nick Stevens scored a power-play goal on assists from Ebbott and Dylan Contreras to put the Bears out front.

Cameron then tied it for Fairbanks, but Giourof, assisted by Manning and Andy Larson, put the Bears up 4-3 headed to the third.

“Too many going back and forth chances probably for both of our liking,” Shaw said of the head coaches. “We were able to capitalize and just kind of start chipping away.”

Theros said the Ice Dogs are one of the youngest teams in the league and have a lot of learning to do.

“We just played really soft in the defensive zone,” he said. “We gave up some Grade A chances that we shouldn’t and had a ton of Grade A chances that didn’t go in.”

Theros said when his squad missed some great chances, they let that affect their defensive zone play.

With 15:34 left in the game, Giourof, assisted by Manning and Carter Gillen, completed his second hat trick for the Bears.

Shaw said Giourof is dangerous when he moves his feet.

“The last four or five games, I haven’t been moving my feet that much,” Giourof said. “I started figuring out I’ve just got to move my feet, get in the right areas and the chances will be there.”

With the 5-3 lead, Shaw was happy his team kept managing the puck well. The coach also liked the way the Bears finished the game strong with a power-play goal by Ebbott, assisted by Tuomioksa and Stevens, with 3:38 left.

After a rough weekend on special teams heading into the Ice Dogs series, Shaw also liked that the power-play goal meant the Bears won the special teams battle 2-0.

Owen Zenone had 31 saves for the Bears to get his first NAHL win, while Kyle Abrahamson stopped 30 for the Ice Dogs.

Zenone played as an affiliate for the Bears last weekend due to an injury, then stuck around this week and earned another start with a great week of practice.

“It’s good for him to get his first one out of the way,” Shaw said. “That’s pretty cool.”

The Bears host the Steel on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m.