SOLDOTNA- The Fairbanks Ice Dogs saw their winless streak reach eight games at 0-6-1-1 over the weekend on the Kenai Peninsula. The Brown Bears won 4-3 on Friday before posting a 3-2 shootout victory over the Dogs on Saturday night.
Hayden Walters’ late third period goal gave the Brown Bears a 4-3 win over Fairbanks and put Kenai River into a playoff spot. The Brown Bears took a 2-0 lead just 66 seconds into the action as Hunter Newhouse and Noah Holt each registered their 10th goal of the year. Fairbanks would fight back to tie things up at two before the first frame ended thanks to Mac Gadowsky and Tyler Herzberg. Colin Goff put Fairbanks ahead for the first time of the evening but that lead was short lived as Garett Drotts knotted things up just 23 seconds later. The game remained tied late into the third before Walters’ tally. Nils Wallstrom was victorious in between the pipes as he made 32 saves. Kayden Hargraves ended up with the loss as he stopped 30 shots.
Casper Conradsson Kelvgaard scored the only goal in the shootout as the Kenai River Brown Bears finished off a sweep of the Fairbanks Ice Dogs, winning 3-2 on Saturday night. All the scoring came in the final period of action as Hayden Walters broke the scoreless tie seven minutes into the final frame. Tyler Herzberg knotted the game at one with 3:19 to play but Jacob Zwirecki put Kenai River back ahead just 21 seconds later. Joey Potter would help Fairbanks get to overtime as he tied the game just 25 seconds after Kenai took the lead. Nils Wallstrom made 29 saves and stopped all three shooters in the skills competition to pick up the win. Kayden Hargraves suffered the loss despite making 39 saves.
The Dogs return to the Big Dipper Ice Arena this weekend for their final regular season series against the Brown Bears.
