The Kenai River Brown Bears fell 3-2 to the Maine Nordiques on Friday and 6-2 to the North Iowa Bulls on Saturday to finish the North American Hockey League Showcase at the Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota.
The Bears are now 1-5-0-0 on the season, including finishing 1-3-0-0 at the Showcase. The Nordiques are 2-2-0-0, while Bulls are 3-1-0-0.
Friday, the Bears fell into a 2-0 hole in the second period and could not recover.
Reese Farrell and Tyler Gaulin scored in the second period to put the Nordiques up, but David Vieten, assisted by Tristian Thibeault, cut it to 2-1 with 13:10 left in the game. Farrell then scored again for a 3-1 game before Gramm McCormack, assisted by Vieten, scored on the power play for a 3-2 game with 7:26 to play.
Avery Sturtz had 20 saves for Maine, while Nathan Dickey stopped 18 for the Bears.
Saturday, North Iowa jumped on top with goals by Anthony Galante and Greg Japchen in the first period.
Vieten, assisted by Jake Veri and McCormack, scored on the power play before the end of the first period.
In the second period, Carter Rapalje scored for a 3-1 lead, but Sean Henry answered for Kenai River. Ryan Coughlin then gave North Iowa a 4-2 lead headed to the fourth.
In the fourth, Rapalje and Japchen scored to ice the game.
Bryant Marks saved 23 for the Bears, while Cullen DeYoung saved 28 for North Iowa.
Friday
Nordiques 3, Brown Bears 2
Maine 0 2 1 —3
Kenai River 0 0 2 —2
First period — none. Penalties — Maine 2 for 4:00; Kenai River 2 for 4:00.
Second period — 1. Maine, Farrell (Gaulin), pp, 1:40; 2. Maine, Gaulin (Farrell), 4:16. Penalties — Maine 2 for 4:00, Kenai River 2 for 4:00.
Third period — 3. Kenai River, Vieten (Thibeault), 6:50; 4. Maine, Farrell (Connolly, Kimball), 9:21; 5. Kenai River, McCormack (Vieten), pp, 12:34.
Shots on goal — Maine 5-9-7—21; Kenai River 7-7-8—22.
Goalies — Maine, Sturtz (22 shots, 20 saves); Kenai River, Dickey (21 shots, 18 saves).
Saturday
Bulls 6, Brown Bears 2
Kenai River 1 1 0 —2
North Iowa 2 2 2 —6
First period — 1. North Iowa, Galante (Domina), 2:52; 2. North Iowa, Japchen (Carroll), pp, 10:30; 3. Kenai River, Vieten (Veri, McCormack), pp, 13:24. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00; North Iowa 1 for 2:00.
Second period — 4. North Iowa, Rapalje (Dombrowsky, Carroll), 1:27; 5. Kenai River, Henry (un.), 11:21; 6. North Iowa, Coughlin (Scott, Vlasich), 11:45. Penalties — Kenai River 1 for 2:00; North Iowa 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 7. North Iowa, Rapalje (Carroll, Japchen), en, 16:54; 8. North Iowa, Japchen (Mesic, Coughlin), 19:03. Penalties — none.
Shots on goal — Kenai River 11-12-7—30; North Iowa 11-13-5—29.
Goalies — Kenai River, Marks (28 shots, 23 saves); North Iowa, DeYoung (30 shots, 28 saves).
Power plays — Kenai River 1 for 2; North Iowa 1 for 3.
