Avalanche rough up Ice Dogs

WASILLA — The Alaska Avalanche made history Saturday night.

Alaska used a 4-3 win over the Fairbanks Ice Dogs to record the first two-game series sweep of its intrastate rival during the team’s five-year stay in Wasilla.

“It’s great. They’ve been a hard team for us to beat the last couple years. It’s nice to finally get some wins agianst them,” Alaska forward Kyle Pichler said after a 4-2 win on Friday.

After posting just a total of three wins over the Dogs during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons combined, the Avs used three second-period goals to earn their third straight win over the Dogs this season.

Alaska is now 3-0-1 in four games against Fairbanks.

Forward Jacob Barber scored twice during a six-minute span in the third, and extended his streak of four straight games against Fairbanks with a goal.

All five of his goals this season have come agianst the Ice Dogs.

Logan Rounds and Tyler Svoboda also scored for Alaska.

Svoboda’s score was his first career goal with the Avalanche. Zach Smith led the Avs with a pair of assists, and Kale Robertson stopped 35 Fairbanks shots to earn the win in net.

Alaska improved to 13-3-4 overall. The Avs are in second place of the North American Hockey League West Division, and are now nine points ahead of the third-place Fairbanks (10-10-1) in the standings. Alaska will play fourth-place Kenai River in a two-game series that starts Friday in Soldotna.