The Kenai River Brown Bears were swept by the host Minnesota Magicians on Saturday and Sunday as both teams returned from Christmas break in the North American Hockey League.
Minnesota rolled to a 5-2 victory Saturday and 6-1 win Sunday.
The Magicians improve to 15-11-3-1 and are in fourth place in the Midwest Division. The Bears are 7-21-2-1 and are in last place in the Midwest Division.
Kenai River stays on the road to face the Janesville (Wisconsin) Jets on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. All games are at 4 p.m. AKST.
In Saturday’s game, the Bears fell behind 4-0 after two periods. Hunter Longhi had two of those goals, while Lucas Kanta and Nicholas Babbie also scored.
In the third, Brendan Hill, assisted by Max Marquette, got the Brown Bears on the board, but Luke Delzer answered for Minnesota.
With 2:53 to play, Kenai River’s Logan Kroyman had his first NAHL goal, with Ryan Finch and Caleb Huffman assisting. Kroyman got the goal in his 17th game for Kenai River.
Kyle Kozma had 37 saves for the Magicians, while Tommy Aitken stopped 27 for the Bears.
Kenai River was hurt by a slow start again Sunday. The Bears fell behind 3-0 in the first period, getting outshot 19-4. Jon Bell, Spencer Light and Gavin Best had the tallies for Minnesota.
In the third, Kanta, Daniil Dolzhenko and Samuel Jacobs put Minnesota up 6-0 with 13:36 to play.
With 9:01 to play, Kenai River’s Cole Dubicki broke up the shutout with a power-play goal assisted by Kevin Marx Noren and David Vieten.
Dubicki had a nine-game point streak broken up Saturday, but still has 22 points in his last 11 games and is tied for fifth in the league for points with 38 in 31 games.
Kozma made 19 saves for Minnesota, while Aitken had 33 for the Bears.
Saturday
Magicians 5, Brown Bears 2
Kenai River 0 0 2 —2
Minnesota 2 2 1 —5
First period — 1. Minnesota, Kanta (Campbell, Dolzhenko), pp, 5:10; 2. Minnesota, Longhi (Kukkonen, Mahony), 10:24. Penalties — Kenai River 4 for 8:00; Minnesota 5 for 10:00.
Second period — 3. Minnesota, Longhi (Kukkonen, Campbell), 6:53; 4. Minnesota, Babbie (Light, Christy), 15:01. Penalties — Kenai River 1 for 2:00; Minnesota 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 5. Kenai River, Hill (Marquette), 4:20; 6. Minnesota, Delzer (Tushie, Moiseev), 9:48; 7. Kenai River, Kroyman (Finch, Huffman), 17:07. Penalties — Kenai River 4 for 16:00; Minnesota 3 for 14:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai River 10-14-15—39; Minnesota 14-7-11—32.
Goalies — Kenai River, Aitken (32 shots, 27 saves); Minnesota, Kozma (39 shots, 37 saves).
Power plays — Kenai River 0 for 6; Minnesota 1 for 4.
Sunday
Magicians 6, Brown Bears 1
Kenai River 0 0 1 —1
Minnesota 3 0 3 —6
First period — 1. Minnesota, Bell (Czarnecki, Light), pp, 7:56; 2. Minnesota, Light (Kukkonen, Campbell), sh, 16:26; 3. Minnesota, Best (Jacobs, Hosszu), 18:07. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00; Minnesota 1 for 2:00.
Second period — none. Penalties — Kenai River 3 for 6:00; Minnesota 2 for 4:00.
Third period — 4. Minnesota, Kanta (Dolzhenko, Longhi), pp, 1:34; 5. Minnesota, Dolzhenko (Mahony, Longhi), 3:39; 6. Minnesota, Jacobs (Bell, Czarnecki), pp, 6:24; 7. Kenai River, Dubicki (Marx Noren, Vieten), pp, 10:59. Penalties — Kenai River 2 for 4:00; Minnesota 1 for 2:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai River 4-9-7—20; Minnesota 19-8-12—39.
Goalies — Kenai River, Aitken (39 shots, 33 saves); Minnesota, Kozma (20 shots, 19 saves).
Power plays — Kenai River 1 for 4; Minnesota 3 for 7.
