Avalanche win for the first time in a month

Feb. 18, 2007

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

WASILLA - After Jonas Hoog scored on the first attempt of the shootout Friday night, the Fairbanks forward taunted the Alaska bench as he skated by.

Hoog raised his index finger to his mouth, like he was telling the Avs, &#8220shhhh.”

But ultimately, it was the Avalanche who had the last word.

Alaska's Josh Erhardt scored the final goal of the shootout to give the Avs the 4-3 win over their intrastate rival at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

Erhardt scored twice in the game. Forward Victor Nordenson posted a goal and an assist. And goaltender Adam Kraus stopped 35 shots in the Alaska win.

Erhardt slipped a back-handed shot past Ice Dogs netminder Kenny Reiter to give the Avs their first win since Jan. 13.

Erhardt, one of three Alaska players to score during the shootout session, said he doesn't really have a premeditated strategy going into a shootout attempt.

&#8220I just watch the goalie, let him beat himself,” Erhardt said. &#8220Wait for him to make the move, and counteract.”

While driving to the net with the puck, Erhardt said he noticed Reiter was cheating to one side. He came into the left, faked the shot, then went back to the right and put the puck into the net low and on Reiter's glove side.

Nordenson and Krystian Dziubinski also beat Reiter during the shootout. Dziubinski slipped a shot through the five-hole on Alaska's first attempt, and Nordenson got a tough wrist shot to trickle by the Fairbanks netminder on Alaska's third try.

Hoog and Kyle Schmidt, the leading goal-scorer in the North American Hockey League, scored for Fairbanks during the tie-breaker.

But after Erhardt scored, Nick Haddad had to provide the equalizer. Fortunately for the Avalanche, the forward knocked the puck off the post.

After Haddad's shot rang off the post, Kraus leapt into the air, and the Avs flooded the ice.

The victory snapped a seven-game losing skid, and marked only the team's second win since the holiday break.

&#8220It's a huge win,” Nordenson said. &#8220We've struggled the last couple weekends.”

In three of the last five, Alaska has suffered a one-goal

loss.

&#8220It felt good to squeeze out the win,” Erhardt said. &#8220We've had close ones, games we should have won.”

Although the Avs currently hold the worst record in the NAHL, coach and general manager Keith Morris has continued to say, this team still has a ton to play for.

&#8220These kids are playing for their hockey lives,” Morris said. &#8220They're trying to show our organization and a lot of schools that they're better than a 12-win team.”

Regardless of record, Nordenson said the Avalanche want to continue to work through the final stretch.

&#8220We've had a rough season; we've lost so many games,” Nordenson said. &#8220But we've hardly ever been out-played.”

Alaska earned the win despite giving the Ice Dogs a two-goal advantage in the first two minutes of the game.

Schmidt and Hoog each scored before many of the 503 fans who watched the game, had even found their seats.

&#8220We came out not playing confident, and not playing smart,” Erhardt said. &#8220And they jumped on us quick.”

Skating on the perpetual power play, Fairbanks dominated the first 10 minutes of play.

&#8220We got so many penalties in the first 10 minutes,” Nordenson said. &#8220I don't think we had a shot on goal for the first 10 minutes. But when we got the 5-on-5 going, we were the better team today.”

Alaska overcame its 20 penalties and 78 penalty minutes by scoring twice within a 17-second span late in the first period, and adding a power-play goal in the second.

With 4 minutes and 18 seconds left in the first, Nordenson flipped the puck into the upper part of the Ice Dog net to cut the Fairbanks lead to 2-1.

Just 17 seconds later, Erhardt intercepted a Fairbanks pass in front of the Ice Dogs' net, and fired a quick shot past Reiter.

&#8220That completely took the wind out of their sails,” Erhardt said.

After being out-shot 10-1 in the first 12 minutes of the period, the Avs had a 7-3 advantage in shots in the final eight minutes.

&#8220These kids showed a lot of character in coming back,” Morris said. &#8220We ended up getting a couple of good opportunities, and I think we played very well defensively. That's a very, very good hockey team on the other side. They definitely have a legitimate chance to win the Robertson Cup this year.”

The Robertson Cup is handed out annually to the league champion.

Former Houston High School standout Larry Kincaid deflected a Reed Rushing power-play shot into the net to give Alaska the 3-2 lead in the third period. It was the first Junior A power-play goal for a player seeing a significant boost in playing time on special teams.

&#8220Larry's getting a chance in the last 17 games to show what Larry can do,” Morris said.

After allowing goals in the first two shots of the game, Kraus rebounded to record 35 saves.

&#8220Adam Kraus came up big,” Erhardt said.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.