The Kenai River Brown Bears returned from the holiday break with a 5-2 loss to the Wisconsin Windigo on Friday in North American Hockey League play at the Eagle River Sports Arena in Wisconsin.

The same two teams play at 4 p.m. AKST Saturday. Kenai River then returns home to face the Fairbanks Ice Dogs on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 10 and 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.

The Brown Bears fall to 12-17-1-2 and are in seventh place in the Midwest Division with 27 points, while the Windigo lead the division at 21-8-1-2, good for 45 points. The Springfield (Illinois) Jr. Blues hold the fourth and final playoff spot with 34 points.

The Windigo took a 3-0 lead Friday on goals by Alexios Georgaklis, Samuel Misak and Cashen Naeve.

“I thought we started the game pretty fast,” Kenai River head coach Taylor Shaw said. “The first seven minutes was pretty good.

“Then we started mismanaging the puck and they capitalized on that.”

With 11:12 left in the second period, William Esterbrooks, assisted by Luke Hause and Joseph Yoon, made it 3-1.

Kenai River’s John Ross then scored short-handed with 11:57 to play in the game on assists from Colten Nestler and Andy Larson. In his 66th game for the Brown Bears, the defenseman Ross scored his first goal.

“We clawed back to 3-2,” Shaw said.

With 4:25 left, the Windigo went up 4-2 on a Braydon Beahm tally. An empty-netter by Ronnie Hill sealed the game.

Beau Altman had 20 saves for Wisconsin, while Mitchell Mccusker had 26 for Kenai River.

Friday

Windigo 5, Brown Bears 2

Ken 0 1 1 —2

Wis 1 2 2 —5

First period — 1. Wisconsin, Georgaklis (Hill, Naeve), pp, 15:18. Penalties — Kenai River 1 for 2:00; Wisconsin 2 for 4:00.

Second period — 2. Wisconsin, Nickolaus (Misak, Ryan), 2:57; 3. Wisconsin, Naeve (Nickolaus, Frey), 7:57; 4. Kenai River, Esterbrooks (Hause, Yoon), 8:48. Penalties — Kenai River 3 for 17:00; Wisconsin 3 for 17:00.

Third period — 5. Kenai River, Ross (Nestler, Larson), sh, 8:03; 6. Wisconsin, Beahm (Nickolaus, Naeve), 15:35; 7. Wisconsin, Hill (Beahm), en, 18:11. Penalties — Kenai River 3 for 6:00; Wisconsin 5 for 10:00.

Shots on goal — Kenai River 6-6-10—22; Wisconsin 7-14-9—30.

Goalies — Kenai River, McCusker (30 shots, 26 saves); Wisconsin, Altman (22 shots, 20 saves).