Back-to-back losses to the Fairbanks Ice Dogs on the Kenai River Brown Bears home ice locked the Brown Bears into fourth place in the Midwest Division of the NAHL and set-up a first-round playoff pairing against the #1 Jansville Jets.
The Fairbanks Ice Dogs, with the two-game sweep of Kenai River, secured the #2 seed into the playoffs and will face #3 Minnesota Magicians.
Fairbanks 1 – Kenai River 0
A lone Fairbanks goal mid-way through the first period on Friday proved the game-winner for the Ice Dogs in a 1-0 shutout of the Brown Bears at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex. Laker Aldridge scored at 8: 57 of period one and Fairbanks goalie Kayden Hargraves recorded 32 saves in the shutout. Kenai River goalie Luke Pavicich totaled 31 saves on 32 shots.
Fairbanks 7 – Kenai River 2
The Ice Dogs lit the lamp four times in the first period and built a 4-1 lead after one period of hockey on Saturday in a 7-2 victory for Fairbanks and a two-game sweep of Kenai River.
Cole Dubicki scored Kenai River’s first goal with the Brown Bears down 3-0 in the first period. Gramm McCormack added a Brown Bear goal midway through the third period. Nathan Dickey recorded 26 saves facing 33 shots in goal for the Brown Bears.
The Kenai River Brown Bears close the regular season with a 22-24-1-1 record and finish fourth in the Midwest Division. The top four teams in the five team division qualify for the NAHL playoffs.
NAHL Division Semi-Finals (May 18-31) Guidelines
The Club seeded first in each division will compete in a best-of-five series with the fourth seeded Club in the same division. The Club seeded second in each division will compete in a best-of-five-series against the Club seeded third in the same division. The Division Semi-Finals may begin no earlier than Thursday, May 20, 2021 and must conclude no later than Monday, May 31, 2021. The Club seeded higher in each division semifinal series has the right to host up to three games and the Club seeded lower in each division semifinal series must be able to host at least two games.
