Anchorage, Alaska | 11/13/21 | Isaac Smoldon
An early goal from Bohdan Panasenko gave Anchorage a lead that they would never relinquish, as the Wolverines dominated play on Saturday and emerged victorious over the Kenai River Brown Bears by a score of 4-1. Panasenko and Clay Allen capped off excellent weekends on Saturday with four points apiece. Raythan Robbins got the start in the second game of the weekend, and had another excellent performance stopping 24 of 25.
Panasenko’s 1st period goal was the only mark of the frame, with the Ukrainian native getting loose in front and firing a shot over the left shoulder of Kenai goaltender Bryant Marks. Cooper Morris picked up an assist on the play, tying him for fourth in the league in apples. Marks held Kenai in the contest, coming up big several times to keep it a one-goal game. In the opposing net, Robbins stopped eight of eight to keep Kenai scoreless.
In the 2nd, Anchorage dominated 5-on-5, getting two goals from their defensive corps. Clay Allen and Hayden Hennen each scored in the period, with Hennen crashing the net and tapping in a rebound for his first NAHL goal. Kenai would get on the board late in the frame however, with their first powerplay goal of the weekend. Nick Stevens was able to get a shot past Robbins from in front of the Anchorage net on a broken defensive play from the Wolverines. Stevens’s goal made it a two-goal game heading into the 3rd.
In the final period of the weekend, both teams were held scoreless until the last two minutes, with a full-rink empty net goal coming from Andy Ramsey. Robbins faced down another eight shots in the 3rd, ending the game with a save percentage of 0.960. The Wolverines’ sweep puts them just one win behind the Fairbanks Ice Dogs in quest for the Club 49 Cup.
Anchorage now sits just two points back of both Fairbanks and Springfield in the Midwest division, with three games in hand. The Wolverines will have a chance to pass Fairbanks in the standings with four back-to-back games against the Ice Dogs to close out the month of November.
