Tonight the Ice Wolves laced up their skates for the final time on home ice until Feb. 14-15 (vs. ODA). Yesterday, the Ice Wolves dominated the Brown Bears in their first ever meeting, 6-2. Their win moved them into sixth place in the South Division. It was the first time this season that the Ice Wolves were not in seventh place. The lost last night put the Brown Bears on a four-game losing streak (0-3-0-1).
In the first period the Ice Wolves did not waste any time getting on the score sheet. As the first shot of the first period wound up beating Landon Pavlisin. The goal was scored by Spencer Rudrud (8) after he stripped a Kenai player of the puck and then went on a breakaway just :22 seconds into the period. Shortly after the halfway point of the period, Peter Morgan (14) took a shot at Garrett Mackay that ended up deflecting off his glove and in the back of the net. After the first period the score was tied at 1-1 and the shots were tied 8-8.
The Brown Bears gained their first lead of the weekend after Laudon Poellinger (7) scored 8:49 into the middle stanza. The Ice Wolves did not let Kenai’s lead last that long as, Alex Gomez (4) scored roughly two minutes later. With time winding down in the period, Max Helgeson (13) sniped a shot past Mackay while on the power play. Giving Kenai a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes of play. Once again shots were even going into intermission, 21-21.
In the final period of regulation the Brown Bears came out of the gate hot after Skylar Gutierrez (7) scored :13 seconds into the period. The Ice Wolves did not let the two-goal deficit affect them as they went on to score four-straight goals. It started with Emil Gabrielson (7) getting fed a spectacular pass from Drew Lorinchak as he sent a one timer past Pavlisin while on the power play. Just a few minutes later and Joe Prouty took a shot towards net that went right through a screen and past Pavlisin to tie the game at 4-4. It was Prouty’s first ever NAHL and here is what he had to say about it, “It feels really good. At first I didn’t know it went in until the boys came over and celebrated.” Later Alex Gomez (5) notched his second goal of the game after finding the loose puck just above the crease. Shortly after his goal, Philip Ekberg (8) went on a breakaway and capitalized to put his team up by a pair, 6-4. His goal marked the most goals in any period this season for the Ice Wolves. As time was expiring in the third period, the Brown Bears closed within one after Logan Ritchie (15) sent a backhander over the shoulder of Mackay. Kenai pulled their goalie with under a minute left in hopes of tying the game and forcing overtime but they were unable to get another puck past Mackay. Giving the Ice Wolves a 6-5 win and their second ever sweep. The Ice Wolves finished with 37 shots and the Brown Bears had 34.
The Ice Wolves had tied their season-high win streak at three after their win tonight. They will now go on the road for four weeks, which is their longest stretch of the season. For the next two weeks the team will be in Alaska to close out their season series with Fairbanks (Jan. 17-18) and Kenai (Jan. 24-25). It was also the first time this season that the Ice Wolves won when trailing after 40 minutes of play (0-23-1-1).