Ice Dogs put bite on Avs

WASILLA — The Alaska Avalanche extended its losing streak to 11 games this weekend after being swept by the Fairbanks Ice Dogs at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Arena.

Friday night the Avs skated to an uninspired 3-0 loss, followed by a offensive explosion for a 7-4 loss Saturday. The Avs held a 3-2 lead going into the final period, but a 5-1 Ice Dogs rush cooled the hometown team.

In Friday’s series opener, the Ice Dogs outworked the Avs most of the game, leaving Alaska head coach Dave Boitz very unhappy.

“I’m very disappointed with how we played,” Boitz said after the game. “There was no passion.”

Aiding the poor scoring effort was a power play that went a dismal 0-6.

“We really need somebody to step up right now,” Boitz said. “Especially the veterans, I haven’t seen a goal from them in six or seven games.”

League-leading Fairbanks scored in each of the three periods, led by forward Jeff Waggoner with a pair of goals. Waggoner started the scoring at 8:30 in the first period when he fed linemate Matt Mills with a cross-ice break-out pass. Mills then fired a shot on net, which bounced off of Avs goalie Nate Pellegrino right to Waggoner, who found the back of the net.

The Avs opened up the second period on the power play and peppered Fairbanks tender Joseph Phillipi with shots. But Phillipi held strong, as he did the whole game, and fought off the power play rush of the Avs.

Although the Avs were only outshot 36-34 for the game, coach Boitz said his team didn’t get any quality shots.

“You can’t score when you shoot the puck right into the goalie,” he said.

After another Waggoner goal, this one off a two-on-one at 16:34 in the second period, both teams clamped down on defense. This was highlighted by some spectacular saves from both goalies, the best being an amazing save from Pellegrino in the third.

While on the power play, Fairbanks managed to put several shots on net, including a hard shot from the point.

Pellegrino made the save, but was left out of position, leaving the net wide open. A Fairbanks player quickly got to the puck and put a hard shot towards the open net to the right of Pellegrino.

But Pellegrino quickly got to his feet and extended out his right leg just in time to deflect the puck away and keep the Avs within two goals.

The excitement from the save was short lived, however.

After the Avs failed to convert on a power play late in the third, Fairbanks forward Mark Pustin intercepted a pass then fired a shot on net, which was rebounded in by Jon Feaval for the final tally of the game with 5:31 left to play.

While Boitz hopes his team can get back on track, he said it won’t come easy with the effort his team gave Friday night.

“We have no fire,” he said. “And without that you won’t win.”

Ice Dogs 7, Avs 4

On Saturday, the Avs gave Fairbanks a better run but still came out on the wrong end of the 7-4 final.

Fairbanks forward Jon Waggoner started out the game the same way he did Friday night, netting the first goal of the game in the first period.

The Avs countered with three second-period goals, including two by local product Matthew Friese. Both of Friese’s goals were assisted by his brother, Adam.

The Avs entered the third period with a 3-2 lead, but Fairbanks came out in the third period strong, scoring three unanswered goals.

One of those came from ex-Av Brad McCabe, who also scored earlier in the second period.

Rob Haider of Anchorage netted a goal for the Avs with 8 minutes to go in the third to cut the lead to 5-4, but that would be as close as the Avalanche would get as Fairbanks answered with a goal 16 seconds later to build the lead back to two. Fairbanks then added another goal with 4:23 left to play to ice the game.

Contact Tyson Alger at sports@frontiersman.com or 352-2273.