The Chippewa (Wisconsin) Steel defeated the Kenai River Brown Bears 5-2 on Thursday in North American Hockey League action at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.
The Bears took a 2-0 lead, but the Steel stormed back with five unanswered goals.
The same two teams play Friday and Saturday, Nov. 8 and 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the sports complex.
Kenai River lost a third straight game at home and is 8-10-1-0, good for sixth place in the Midwest Division with 17 points. The Steel are in third at 8-7-1-2, good for 19 points.
The Bears went up 2-0 in the first 2:19 of the game. Joel Hanson scored on Gavin Jensen and Carter McCormick assists, while Greye Rampton scored a power-play goal with help from Dario Lass and Luke Hause.
The Steel arrived from Anchorage on Wednesday and didn’t get to skate at the sports complex until Thursday morning.
“It could be a combination of traveling yesterday and not being able to skate until this morning,” Chippewa head coach Chris Ratzloff said. “I don’t know. We just weren’t ready.”
The Steel worked themselves back into the game when Grant Denuccio scored on the power play and Marc LaFrance scored on a three-on-two.
“I didn’t really think they had zone time, to be honest, in the first period,” Kenai River head coach Taylor Shaw said. “So to come out of it 2-2, it’s frustrating.”
Shaw said the Steel are a run-and-gun style hockey team.
“They’re going to attack the blue line, whether the puck is going to end up there or not,” he said. “They’re going to attack with pace. They got a couple chances with that.”
In the second period, Gavin Middendorf and Matic Percic scored to put the Steel up 4-2. Percic’s goal came just after a power play expired.
In the third period, Camden Davis finished off the Bears with another power-play goal.
“We didn’t practice it,” Ratzloff said of the power-play success. “That’s probably what it was, to be honest. Sometimes, I think you focus on something too much.”
The Bears outshot the Steel 37-31. Shaw said that Chippewa’s style created chances, but also gave the Bears good chances.
“They capitalized on a couple of our bad details,” Shaw said. “We’re not capitalizing.”
Devin Shakar was a big reason why. He saved 35 for the Steel, while Mitchell Mccusker saved 26 for the Bears.
“Every day in practice, he competes really hard,” Ratzloff said of Shakar. “He gives us a chance to win.”
Thursday
Steel 5, Brown Bears 2
Chi 2 2 1 —5
Ken 2 0 0 —2
First period — 1. Kenai River, Hanson (Jensen, McCormick), 1:41. 2. Kenai River, Rampton (Lass, Hause), pp, 2:19. 3. Chippewa, Denuccio (McIntosh, G. Peterson), pp, 10:29. 4. Chippewa, LaFrance (McIntosh, H. Peterson), 16:00. Penalties — Chippewa 2 for 4:00; Kenai River 2 for 4:00.
Second period — 5. Chippewa, Middendorf (Lackas, Ligi), 9:20. 6. Chippewa, Percic (Middendorf, Ligi), 17:21. Penalties — Kenai River 3 for 6:00.
Third period — 7. Chippewa, Davis (Ligi, Middendorf), 8:26. Penalties — Chippewa 2 for 4:00; Kenai River 1 for 2:00.
Shots on goal — Chippewa 11-13-7—31; Kenai River 14-13-10—37.
Goalies — Chippewa, Shakar (37 shots, 35 saves); Kenai River, Mccusker (31 shots, 26 saves).
Power plays — Chippewa 2 for 4; Kenai River 1 for 3.
