Wolverines sweep weekend from Brown Bears

The Anchorage Wolverines got a two-game sweep of the Kenai River Brown Bears over the weekend in North American Hockey League action.

The Wolverines won their home opener 3-2 on Friday at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage before traveling down to the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex for a 5-3 victory Saturday.

The Wolverines improve to 6-2-1-0 and are in third place in the Midwest Division with 13 points, while the Bears are 7-4-1-0 and in second place with 15 points. The Wisconsin Windigo lead with 17 points.

Anchorage also now leads the Club 49 Cup with four points, while the Bears and Fairbanks Ice Dogs have none.

The Bears host the Windigo on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18 and 19, at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Kenai River was part of Alaska history as the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage started hosting high-level hockey again.

The University of Alaska Anchorage played its last game in the Sullivan in March 2019 and the Alaska Aces played their last Sullivan game in April 2017.

The Wolverines had always intended to use the Sullivan as home ice and made it happen in their fourth season.

Nick Walters, the Wolverines head coach who was the UAA director of hockey operations in 2019, credited the organization for working hard to make opening night happen.

“But you wonder, our fans were awesome at the Boeke, what are the fans going to be like?” Walters said. “What’s the turnout going to be. Everything like that.

“But it was just awesome.”

The announced crowd was 3,953.

“Hopefully, we just keep doing our job, winning games and putting an exciting product on the ice,” Walters said. “Hopefully, people want to keep coming to the Sullivan for our games.”

The Wolverines grabbed a 1-0 lead after the first period on a Jakub Bednarik strike, then Daniel Bagnole scored short-handed in the second period for a 2-0 advantage.

William Esterbrooks, assisted by Brady Engelkes and Andy Larson, cut it to 2-1 headed to the third.

Just over two minutes into the third, Anchorage’s Brock Devlin scored on the power-play for a 3-1 lead.

With 11:24, Thomas Gunderson, assisted by Engelkes and Joel Hanson, cut it to 3-2. This was minutes after a Kenai River goal was disallowed.

The Bears couldn’t find the equalizer and were hurt by taking a four-minute penalty with 3:19 to play.

“It was a special night for them in Anchorage,” Kenai River head coach Taylor Shaw said. “It’s neat for the three Alaska teams to be in there.

“It was a good game. It was unfortunate it ended the way it did. I’ll kind of leave it at that.”

Walters said his team had a lot of nervous energy and Kenai River played really well. The coach said special teams and goaltending allowed his team to win.

Owen Zenone stopped 23 for the Bears, while Vaughn Makar had 34 saves for the Wolverines.

Saturday in front of 1,311, the Wolverines got away from the Bears in the third period.

Greye Rampton, assisted by Jackson Ebbott and Esterbrooks, put the Bears up early with a power-play tally, but Bagnole and Toby Carlson had Anchorage up 2-1 by the end of the period.

Luke Lizak, assisted by Engelkes, tied it in the second period, but Romulus Riego De Dios scored on the power play for a 3-2 lead headed to the third.

The Wolverines stretched the lead to 5-2 in the third on goals by Connor Jalbert and Brody Dietz before Joseph Yoon, assisted by Gunderson and Austin Petersen, scored for the Bears.

Shaw liked the way his team started, but said the two Anchorage goals in the third period hurt.

“We just beat ourselves in a tight game,” he said. “We gave up two bad goals — really, just two-on-two rushes — where we got beat.

“You can’t do that in a 3-2 game like that.”

Walters was happy with the way his team came alive in the third period.

“I didn’t entirely love us today,” he said. “I thought for the first two periods, we just weren’t playing our game, for whatever reason. And that happens sometimes.

“In the third period, I felt like we just maybe simplified, and things kind of went our way.”

Rampton gets Division I commitment

The Brown Bears got their first Division I commitment this season, with Rampton announcing this week he is headed to Tennessee State University.

In his first season with the Bears, Rampton has five goals and five assists to lead the team with 10 points. Rampton, out of Chilliwack, British Columbia, is in his last year of junior eligibility.

Tennessee State will be the first of the historically black colleges and universities to offer hockey.

“Just after the (NAHL) Showcase, they reached out and I talked with them a few times, and researched their program,” Rampton said. “I talked to the coaches here, my parents, my adviser, and I thought it was a good fit for me.”

Tennessee State will begin Division I play in the 2025-26 season. The university is partnering with the NHL, the Nashville Predators and College Hockey Inc. to make it happen.

“Being a new team definitely appealed to me, and making history as well,” Rampton said. “Being right in Nashville, too. They’re partnered with the Nashville Predators and use a lot of their facilities.”

Rampton said it’s great to have the deal, but there is no time to relax.

“I’ve still got to work with the boys here, and our goal is to win a Robby Cup,” he said.

Friday

Wolverines 3, Brown Bears 2

Ken 0 1 1 —2

Anc 1 1 1 —3

First period — 1. Anchorage, Bednarik (Ushio, Christian), 13:46. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00.

Second period — 2. Anchorage, Bagnole (Riego De Rios, Devlin), sh, 8:38. 3. Kenai River, Esterbrooks (Engelkes, Larson), 10:30. Penalties — Anchorage 1 for 2:00.

Third period — 4. Anchorage, Devlin (Christian, Ushio), pp, 2:07. 5. Kenai River, Gunderson (Engelkes, Hanson), 8:36. Penalties — Kenai River 4 for 8:00; Anchorage 1 for 2:00.

Shots on goal — Kenai River 11-12-13—36; Anchorage 9-8-9—26.

Goalies — Kenai River, Zenone (26 shots, 23 saves); Anchorage, Makar (36 shots, 34 saves).

Saturday

Wolverines 5, Brown Bears 3

Anc 2 1 2 —5

Ken 1 1 1 —3

First period — 1. Kenai River, Rampton (Ebbott, Esterbrooks), pp, 3:06. 2. Anchorage, Bagnole (Jalbert, Devlin), 6:57. 3. Anchorage, Carlson (Riego De Rios, Darby), 12:21. Penalties — Anchorage 2 for 4:00; Kenai River 1 for 2:00.

Second period — 4. Kenai River, Lizak (Engelkes), 8:32. 5. Anchorage, Riego De Rios (Stimple, Darby), pp, 11:44. Penalties — Anchorage 4 for 19:00; Kenai River 6 for 23:00.

Third period — 6. Anchorage, Jalbert (Carlson, Shasby), 9:27. 7. Anchorage, Dietz (Bednarik, Ushio), 13:51. 8. Kenai River, Yoon (Gunderson, Petersen), 14:26. Penalties — Anchorage 4 for 8:00; Kenai River 3 for 17:00.