Hat trick helps Avs sweep Rage

PALMER — It took five years for the Alaska Avalanche to see their fifth hat trick by a player in franchise history. This season, it’s taken Jake Barber 14 games to post a hat trick twice.

The Dardenne Prairie, Mo., native scored three times to lead the Avs to a 4-1 win over the Dawson Creek Rage at the Palmer Ice Arena Saturday night.

“It’s not dumb luck. He’s putting himself in good positions,” Avs head coach Brian Huebel said of Barber, who now leads the Avalanche with eight goals.

Barber scored in each period, grabbing a pair of even-strength goals and a shorthanded tally to notch the hat trick, the seventh by an Alaska player in the franchise’s six-year history.

Late in the first period, Seth Johnson and Barber scored 21 seconds apart to give the Avs the 2-0 lead. Barber scored shorthanded in the second and scored again with five minutes left in the third. Both of Barber’s even-strength goals were set up by pretty feeds from his linemates.

“Right now he’s playing well,” Huebel said. “He’s making smart decisions, getting chances and putting them home.”

In the first, with the Avs on the power play, defenseman Chase Van Allen found a lane and set the puck in from the right circle, while Johnson and Wehebe Darge both screened Dawson Creek goalie Andrew Walsh. Johnson and Darge were both able to get their sticks on the puck, but Johnson used his blade to deflect the puck high into the right corner of the Rage net.

That score gave the Avs the 1-0 lead with 43 seconds left in the first period, and it took only 21 seconds for the Avs to strike again.

Forward Brandon Brossoit won a battle behind the Rage net and centered a puck to a crashing Barber, who backhanded a shot past Walsh.

“We came out and worked hard, won battles and won races,” Huebel said.

Barber won a race in the second period to record his second goal of the game. With the Rage on the power play, Barber poked the puck away from a Dawson defenseman at the blue line, skated up the left side of the ice and put another puck past Walsh.

“Credit Jake, he read the play nice. He picked it off the defenseman’s stick, got position and got around him,” Huebel said.

In the third period, Barber one-timed a Blake Huppert pass from behind the Dawson goal to complete his hat trick.

Huppert and Brossoit each had a pair of assists during the win. Rookie Blake Mendenhall got the start in net, and earned his first career Junior A win. The former West Anchorage High School standout stopped 24 shots in the victory, only allowing a Scott Fellnermayr power-play goal in the second period.

Alaska completed a three-game sweep of the Rage with the win and improved to 8-6-0 overall. The weekend victories pushed Alaska ahead of Kenai River (6-6-1) and into second place of the North American Hockey League West Division.

“We needed that,” Huebel said. “I’ve been telling guys all along, we’re better than what our record shows.”

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.

Alaska 4, Dawson Creek 1

Saturday, Palmer Ice Arena

First period — 1. Alaska- Johnson (Darge, Van Allen) pp 19:17; 2. Alaska- Barber (Brossoit, Huppert) 19:38.

Second period — 3. Alaska- Barber (unassisted) sh 10:09; 4. Dawson Creek- Fellnermayr (Turnbull) pp 10:46.

Third period — 5. Alaska- Barber (Huppert, Brossoit) 14:57.

Shots on goal: Dawson Creek 4-12-9—25, Alaska 12-7-11—30; Saves: Dawson Creek- Walsh 10-6-10—26; Alaska- Mendenhall 4-11-9—24; Power plays: Dawson Creek 1-for-5, Alaska 1-for-7.

Alaska 2, Dawson Creek 1

Friday, Palmer Ice Arena

First period — no scoring.

Second period — 1. Alaska- Borer (Haug, Van Allen) 4:50.

Third period — 2. Alaska- Brossoit (Barber, Huppert) 8:21; 3. Dawson Creek- Waterfield (Zarazun) 8:31.

Shots on goal: Dawson Creek 6-13-10—29; Alaska- 12-14-12—38; Saves: Dawson Creek- Walsh 12-13-11—36, Alaska- Peterson 6-13-9—29; Power plays: Dawson Creek 0-for-6, Alaska 0-for-4.