The Wisconsin Windigo defeated the Kenai River Brown Bears 5-2 on Saturday in North American Hockey League play at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.
The Bears drop to 21-25-4-3, good for 49 points, and remain in seventh place in the Midwest Division.
The Chippewa (Wisconsin) Steel hold the fourth and final playoff spot with 60 points. With just six games left to play, the Bears are just a loss or a Steel victory from being eliminated from the playoff chase.
The Windigo improve to 36-13-1-3 and lead the division with 76 points — six ahead of second-place Fairbanks.
The schedule makers did the Windigo no favors this week.
Wisconsin flew to Anchorage to take on the Wolverines on Friday and fell behind 4-0 in the first period before forcing overtime and a shootout. The shootout then went 11 rounds before the Windigo lost.
The squad then had to get on a bus and come down to play Kenai River on Saturday.
“It was a very professional approach that these guys have done over the past two or three days over the weekend to get three out of four points,” Wisconsin head coach John Mitchell said.
The Bears had Friday night off, but the Windigo went up 1-0 just 28 seconds into the game when Braydon Beahm scored.
Midway through the first period, Zachary Cline made it 2-0.
Kenai River head coach Taylor Shaw said Wisconsin is a very good team that attends to the details. He said the Bears didn’t attend to the details at all times Saturday, and it showed in the score.
“They just wanted it more,” Shaw said. “They played better than us.”
The Bears kept trying to creep back into the game. By the end of the first period, Andrew Politoski, with help from Thomas Gunderson, scored for a 2-1 game.
The Windigo went up 3-1 when Jackson Ernst scored the lone goal of the period on a power play. Wisconsin was 1 for 5 on the power play, while the Bears were 0 for 5.
“It’s something we’ve been trying to home in on toward the end of the year — making sure your special teams are good to go and that you’re winning those battles,” Mitchell said. “They’re important come playoff time.”
Carter McCormick, assisted by Luke Hause and Dario Lass, gave the Bears life when he scored with 7:58 left in the game to cut the gap to 3-2.
“It’s a very competitive division,” Mitchell said. “You can’t take your foot off the gas whatsoever.
“Kenai showed it there. They have some really good, young ’05s that can really play and score goals. And they made it challenging on us tonight.”
With 7:14 left, both teams took a penalty leading to four-on-four play.
Two turnovers by the Bears during that stretch led to odd-man rushes and goals by Nate Farrell and Hunter Hayes that made it 5-2 with 5:53 left.
“We found a way to at least get within striking distance when Carter scores,” Shaw said. “We kind of felt we were dead in the water for most of the second period.
“Then you get a little life because of that. And we’re not mentally focused enough to get it back to five-on-five.”
Both Farrell and Hayes had a goal and two assists for the Windigo. Mitchell said Hayes has been a key trade deadline pickup.
Lucas Szyszka had 24 saves for the Windigo, while Mitchell Mccusker stopped 20 for the Bears.
Kenai River faces Anchorage at the Sullivan Arena on Friday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m. The teams then play Saturday, March 29, at the sports complex at 7:30 p.m.
Shaw said there is plenty of reason to still go hard, including the Club 49 Cup.
“If you love the game, you believe in the community and the organization, it shouldn’t take much convincing to get up, right?” Shaw said.
Saturday
Windigo 5, Brown Bears 2
Wis 2 1 2 —5
Ken 1 0 1 —2
First period — 1. Wisconsin, Beahm (Farrell), 0:28; 2. Wisconsin, Cline (Hayes, Joslin), 10:52; 3. Kenai River, Politoski (Gunderson), 15:18. Penalties — Wisconsin 2 for 4:00; Kenai River 1 for 2:00.
Second period — 4. Wisconsin, Ernst (Hayes, Farrell), pp, 16:24. Penalties — Wisconsin 3 for 6:00; Kenai River 4 for 21:00.
Third period — 5. Kenai River, McCormick (Hause, Lass), 12:02; 6. Wisconsin, Farrell (Ernst), 13:14; 7. Wisconsin, Hayes (Ryan), 14:07. Penalties — Wisconsin 1 for 2:00; Kenai River 3 for 14:00.
Shots on goal — Wisconsin 7-9-9—25; Kenai River 8-9-9—26.
Goalies — Wisconsin, Szyszka (26 shots, 24 saves); Kenai River, Mccusker (25 shots, 20 saves).
Power plays — Wisconsin 1 for 5; Kenai River 0 for 5.
Thomas Gunderson of the Kenai River Brown Bears and Alexios Georgaklis of the Wisconsin Windigo battle in front of Windigo goalie Lucas Szyszka on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Jackson Ernst of the Wisconsin Windigo shields the puck from Luke Lizak of the Kenai River Brown Bears on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai River Brown Bears goalie Mitchell Mccusker has the puck trapped under his body as Carter McCormick and Colten Nestler of the Brown Bears and Zachary Cline of the Wisconsin Windigo battle Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
