Another shootout, another win

SOLDOTNA — There’s another shootout that’s becoming an Alaska winter sports tradition.

Alaska’s Larry Kincaid gave the Avalanche its fifth consecutive shootout win of the season over the Kenai River Brown Bears Sunday evening at the Soldotna Sports Center.

“We’ve gone through so many shootouts with these guys, I just know the goalie’s left and right,” Kincaid said after his game-winner in the sixth round of the shootout.

The goal was Kincaid’s second decisive goal in a shootout over the Brown Bears this season.

With the win, Alaska moved into a third-place tie with Topeka in the North American Hockey League’s South Division, one point back of Fairbanks for second place. Alaska is now 6-1 in games that have gone past regulation, and 5-1 in shootouts. All five of Alaska’s shootout wins have come at the hands of the Brown Bears.

Alaska also beat the Brown Bears in a shootout Saturday to even the three-game weekend series between the teams.

In Sunday’s rubber match, both teams had plenty of chances to win before the game went into overtime.

The game included five ties and five lead changes, most coming in a wild final 5 minutes, 38 seconds that featured five goals, culminating in Kent Detlefsen’s game-tying tally with just over a minute to play.

“That was nuts, huh?” Alaska coach Jamie Smith said following the crazy finish.

The game was relatively sleepy through the first two periods. Kenai River took the early lead on a Paul Jenkins goal, but Alaska tied things up when Adam Friese hit Kevin Anger with a feed right in front of Alaska goalie Matt Wichorek. Anger put the puck home, tying the game after one period and giving Friese — a Wasilla High senior skating with the Avs over the Thanksgiving holiday — his first career junior hockey point.

Alaska grabbed a 2-1 lead into the third thanks to a fast-break goal by Larry Kincaid that started when Alaska goalie Dusan Sidor made a spectacular save on a tipped puck from point-blank range.

Sidor made 34 saves on the game to pick up his second win in as many nights over the Brown Bears.

The Brown Bears grabbed the lead once again with back-to-back Brett Englebright goals to start the third period, then the Avs took it back with two goals in 1:22 by Jeremiah Dargis and Joe Harren.

Harren’s goal was followed by an improbable stretch of hockey that saw the Brown Bears find the net twice more in the next 18 seconds.

Smith said he was livid on the bench after watching his team surrender the quick goals despite playing a more defensive alignment.

“I was (livid). We wanted to tighten down and just forecheck one guy so we wanted to sag two guys back,” he said. “Then they come back and they have a fantastic goal where the puck goes off this, goes off that and they have a two-on-one.”

But the Avs kept skating, eventually grinding out Detlefesn’s equalizer to send the game into extra time.

“That’s just how our team is. We go until the end,” Kincaid said. “That’s what I love about these guys.

The goal gave Detlefsen his team-leading 12th goal since coming to the team in an Oct. 1 trade with Alexandria. He’s the league’s leading scorer among defenseman, and has three fewer points (24) as last-place Alexandria’s top two scorers combined.

Alaska is now 7-2 this season against Kenai River, a first-year expansion team that actually moved past Texas and into fourth place in the South with the shootout loss.

Smith said he was “jumping up and down” after the Avs win Sunday enabled the team to pick up four crucial road points in three games on the Peninsula.

“I’m ecstatic.”

The Avalanche now have nearly three weeks off before a Dec. 14 clash with the Fairbanks Ice Dogs at the Subway Centre in Anchorage. The Avs then return to the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena for a four-game home stand before hitting the road for the entire month of January.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com

AVALANCHE 6, BROWN BEARS 5, SO

Sunday, Soldotna Sports Center

Alaska 1 1 3 0 1 —6

Kenai River 1 0 4 0 0 —5

First period — 1. Kenai River, Jenkins (Sturdevant), 2:46; 2. Alaska, Anger (Friese), 6:56. Penalties — Alaska 3 for 6:00; Kenai River 2 for 4:00.

Second period — 3. Alaska, Kincaid (Currier), 8:05. Penalties — Alaska 2 for 4:00; Kenai River 3 for 6:00.

Third period — 4. Kenai River, Englebright (Peterson), pp, 0:56; 5. Kenai River, Englebright (Jenkins, Bossert), 6:24; 6. Alaska, Dargis (Pichler, Young), pp, 14:22; 7. Alaska, Harren (Skinner, Currier), 15:40; 8. Kenai River, Kulikoiuskiy (Wiesner), 15:51; 9. Kenai River, Wiesner (un.), 15:59; 10. Alaska, Detiefsen (Harren), 18:14. Penalties — Alaska 2 for 4:00; Kenai River 1 for 5:00.

Overtime — No scoring. Penalties — none.

Shootout — Alaska 2 (Barerra G, Pichler NG, Currier NG, Skinner NG, Zierden NG, Dargis NG, Kincaid G); Kenai River 1 (Kulikouskiy NG, J. Harris NG, Jenkins NG, Peterson NG, Bossert G, Wiesner NG, Johansson NG).

Shots on goal — Alaska 7-15-14-3—39; Kenai River 17-6-14-2—39.

Goalies — Alaska, Sidor (39 shots, 34 saves); Kenai River, Wichorek (39 shots, 34 saves).