The Anchorage Wolverines defeated the Kenai River Brown Bears 11-3 on Saturday in North American Hockey League action at Ben Boeke Ice Arena in Anchorage.
The Wolverines led 5-3 headed to the third period, then had six power-play goals in the final period as the Bears took 14 penalties for 131 minutes.
“The game got out of control on and off the ice sheet,” Kenai River head coach Taylor Shaw said, choosing not to elaborate. “The Bears look forward to moving forward on Monday.”
The Brown Bears fall to 16-12-1-0 and are tied for third with 33 points in the Midwest Division with the Fairbanks Ice Dogs. The Minnesota Wilderness lead the division with 37 points, while the Chippewa (Wisconsin) Steel have 34. The Wolverines, at 12-10-5-1 are tied for fifth with 30 points.
Anchorage continues to be in strong position in the Club 49 Cup. The Wolverines now have 17 points, while the Ice Dogs have nine and the Bears have seven.
Caleb Huffman, assisted by Garett Drotts and Hunter Newhouse, put the Bears up 1-0 in the first period before Fedya Nikolayenya and Trent Powell of Soldotna made it 2-1 Anchorage headed to the second.
Bryce Monrean, assisted by Ryan Finch and Jack Anderson, tied it up on the power play just 11 seconds into the second period, but Anchorage’s Kade Shea made it 3-2 just over a minute later.
Huffman, assisted by Owen Hanson and Drotts, tied it at 3 with 2:15 gone in the second, but Jackson Reineke made it 4-3 just 32 seconds later, then Aiden Westin scored for a 5-3 lead entering the third.
Hayden Hennen, Layten Liffrig, Reineke, Danny Reis, Logan Lyke and Powell scored in the third.
Bryant Marks had 41 saves for the Bears, while Shane Soderwall stopped 21 for the Wolverines.
Shaw said Marks fought hard in net, but said all the power-play time in the third period, including a lot of five-on-three, was too much to overcome.
Kenai River plays Thursday and Friday at Chippewa at 4 p.m. AKST.
Saturday
Wolverines 11, Brown Bears 3
Kenai River 1 2 0 —3
Anchorage 2 3 6 —11
First period — 1. Kenai River, Huffman (Drotts, Newhouse), 4:57; 2. Anchorage, Nikolayenya (Reineke, LeBel), 12:33; 3. Anchorage, Powell (Westin, Tolan), 18:01. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00; Anchorage 3 for 6:00.
Second period — 4. Kenai River, Monrean (Finch, J. Anderson), pp, 0:11; 5. Anchorage, Shea (Co. Morris, Allen), 1:12; 6. Kenai River, Huffman (Hanson, Drotts), pp, 2:15; 7. Anchorage, Reineke (Doran, Nikolayenya), 2:47; 8. Anchorage, Westin (Liffrig, Doran), 15:27. Penalties — Kenai River 3 for 6:00; Anchorage 3 for 6:00.
Third period — 9. Anchorage, Hennen (Powell, Bauer), pp, 3:23; 10. Anchorage, Liffrig (Westin, Allen), pp, 9:22; 11. Anchorage, Reineke (Allen, Hennen), pp, 13:50; 12. Anchorage, Reis (Powell, Brown), pp, 15:08; 13. Anchorage, Lyke (Liffrig, Co. Morris), pp, 16:12; 14. Anchorage, Powell (Reis, LeBel), pp, 17:20. Penalties — Kenai River 14 for 131:00; Anchorage 6 for 34:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai River 10-10-4—24; Anchorage 12-16-24—52.
Goalies — Kenai River, Marks (52 shots, 41 saves); Anchorage, Soderwall (24 shots, 21 saves).
