Avs hope to rebound against Ice Dogs

WASILLA — What’s more irritating for a hockey coach? A one-goal loss or a one-sided shutout?

While no coach wants to see their team kept off the scoreboard, the one-goal loss may be more difficult to swallow.

Just ask Dave Boitz and the Alaska Avalanche.

Boitz’s Avalanche sandwiched a shutout loss with a pair of one-goal losses during a three-game series at the Wenatchee Wild last week in Wenatchee, Wash.

“Friday we looked pretty good,” Boitz said. “Saturday we weren’t ourselves. Sunday we definitely were ourselves.

“We should have won on Friday and we definitely should have won on Saturday,” Boitz said.

Boitz said the Avs played very well during a 5-4 overtime loss on Friday and a 6-5 Wenatchee win on Sunday. But when it came down to it, the Avs couldn’t prevent the Wild from posting the go-ahead goal. Wenatchee put 14 of its 70 shots into the back of the Alaska net during the series.

It’s a glaring statistic and a trend the Avs hope they left in Wenatchee, especially now as Alaska prepares for a two-game series against the North American Hockey League-leading Fairbanks Ice Dogs.

The Dogs host the Avs today and Saturday at the Big Dipper Ice Arena in Fairbanks. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. each night.

Thanks to a two-game sweep of the Kenai River Brown Bears in Fairbanks last week and the Avs’ struggles in Wenatchee, the Dogs now own a 10-point lead in the NAHL West. Boitz said Fairbanks (14-4-3 and winners of its last eight) is simply a well-rounded hockey club.

“They’ve got good goaltending and some high-end offensive guys,” Boitz said.

One of those offensive powers is forward Brad McCabe, a former Alaska Avalanche and University of Alaska Anchorage skater. McCabe skated for the Avs two years ago and signed his Division I National Letter of Intent while with the Wasilla-based franchise. McCabe left the UAA program after just one season with the Seawolves, and since his return to the NAHL, McCabe has torn through the league, scoring 12 goals and eight assists in just 12 games.

Forward Austin Block leads the Dogs with 12 goals and 19 assists in 21 games.

Boitz said playing sound defensive hockey is important to Alaska’s success this weekend.

“If we give them any easy goals, it’s going to be a long weekend,” the head coach said.

Despite managing just a single point during the three-game set at Wenatchee, Alaska did score at least four goals in two of the three losses.

Forward Tyler Currier posted a pair of special teams scores on Friday and added another goal on Sunday. Blueliner Shawn McNeely had three assists in those two games.

Alaska dropped out of second place in the West for the first time in nearly two months on Sunday. Wenatchee (10-9-1) moved into second place with the three wins, jumping Alaska (9-8-1), which now sits in third place.

Kenai River (8-15-1), which hosts the Topeka RoadRunners in a three-game series this weekend, is in fourth place.