The Kenai River Brown Bears stand alone in third place in the Midwest Division following a split with the Anchorage Wolverines in the final weekend of the regular season of NAHL hockey play.
The Brown Bears post their best regular season record (32-24-3-1) recording 32 victories in the 2022-23 regular season.
Kenai River will play the #2 seed Minnesota Wilderness in the first round of the Midwest Division playoffs. The playoffs will begin next week in Cloquet, Minnesota under a new playoff format, which should allow for a return to the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex for at least one playoff game. The Midwest Division playoff schedule will be released; according to the Minnesota Wilderness, the Wilderness will host the first two games April 21st and 22nd in Minnesota.
Kenai River 5 – Anchorage 4 OT Shootout
The Kenai River Brown Bears set a franchise record for wins in the regular season on Friday with a 5-4 shootout victory over the Anchorage Wolverines; recording a 32nd win for the 2022-23 season and insuring a third-place finish in the Midwest Division standings.
Following a scoreless overtime, the Brown Bears and Wolverines sent a combined 10 shooters to the line; with each teams goaltender, Nils Wallstrom for Kenai River and Eino Rissanen for Anchorage, recording four-straight stops leading to a fifth attacker. Wallstrom turned away Anchorge’s Reineke; then, Kenai River’s Ben Monson buried a shot for the shootout victory for the Brown Bears.
For the game, Kenai River goals were scored by: Owen Hanson, Jacob Zwirecki, Ryan Finch, Kotaro Tsutsumi and Monson. Wallstrom recorded 30 saves for Kenai River.
Anchorage 5 – Kenai River 3
The regular season finale’ at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex on Saturday, goes to the Wolverines 5-3 after a fast start for Anchorage.
Two first period goals staked Anchorage to a 2-0 lead into the second period. Kenai River never lead scoring goals by Parker Lockwood (short-handed), Nick Stevens and Carson Triggs (power-play). In goal for Kenai River, Bryant Marks recorded 23 saves.
Midwest Division Final Standings
Teams Games Wins Loss OTL SOL Total
| 1 | y – Wisconsin Windigo | 60 | 39 | 18 | 1 | 2 | 81 |
| 2 | x – MN Wilderness | 60 | 35 | 18 | 3 | 4 | 77 |
| 3 | x – Kenai River Brown Bears | 60 | 32 | 24 | 3 | 1 | 68 |
| 4 | x – Chippewa Steel | 60 | 31 | 25 | 1 | 3 | 66 |
| 5 | Anchorage Wolverines | 60 | 28 | 24 | 6 | 2 | 64 |
| 6 | Fairbanks Ice Dogs | 60 | 28 | 25 | 6 | 1 | 63 |
| 7 | Springfield Jr. Blues | 60 | 26 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 55 |
| 8 | Janesville Jets | 60 | 23 | 28 | 5 | 4 | 55 |
