Janesville, Wisconsin | 1/1/22 | Isaac Smoldon
The Wolverines played a tight contest against the Janesville Jets on Saturday, but would eventually fall by a score of 4-3. The contest was the third game against Janesville and the sixth of the Wolverines’ Lower 48 road trip. Anchorage now has two more road games, both played against the Minnesota Magicians, before they return back home.
Janesville scored first in a contest where neither team scored more than one goal consecutively. Robby Newton tallied the only goal of the 1st period for the Jets with 12:10 remaining in the frame. Despite Anchorage more than doubling the Jets up in shots, Michael D’Orazio made 13 saves to keep the Wolverines scoreless through the 1st.
Both teams scored twice in the 2nd, and Anchorage started the scoring when Colton Friesen tied the game early in the frame. Janesville responded six minutes later as Arsenii Smekhnov beat Shane Soderwall to restore the Jets one-goal lead. Two-and-a-half minutes later, Aiden Westin again tied the game, this time at 2 goals apiece. Janesville was able to get the last goal of the period however, as Spencer Kring tallied his first goal of the year to make the score 3-2.
In the 3rd period, it would be Anchorage scoring the lone goal of the frame, this time from Joey Moffat. Moffat beat Owen Millward who had come into the game for Janesville following the Wolverines 2nd goal. The game reminded tied through regulation, despite Anchorage outshooting the Jets 36-21. The contest would only see 45 seconds of overtime before a winner was decided. Jonah Aegerter was able to beat Soderwall to win the game for the Jets, who pick up 4 points on the weekend.
Anchorage was able to get three points in the Midwest standings out of the six possible for the weekend. Their next game is against the Minnesota Magicians on Wednesday, followed by the last game of the road trip on Saturday which is also against the Magicians. Wednesday’s game will be played at 4:15 PM AKST, with Saturday’s starting at 4 PM AKST.
