The Wolverines celebrate after a goal. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Life could hardly be better for the Anchorage Wolverines these days.
They’re riding a franchise record-tying, six-game winning streak, the longest current streak in the North American Hockey League, after their three-game home sweep of the Chippewa Steel over the weekend.
They’ve won 12 of their last 15 games – they have sandwiched a pair of record six-game winning streaks around three losses.
They have all but locked up one of the Midwest Division’s four berths in the Robertson Cup playoffs. Anchorage (28-13-4) currently sits third in the eight-team Midwest, just one point behind second-place Janesville and 11 points ahead of fifth-place Chippewa, against which they went 6-1-0 this season.
And of the Wolverines’ remaining 15 regular-season games, 10 are on home ice at Ben Boeke Arena. Plus, they have between one and four games in hand on the other four Midwest teams with legitimate playoff aspirations.
Also, 11 of their remaining games are against sub-.500 teams.
Oh, and all their remaining games are in Alaska.
Even puck luck seems to be on their side, as evidenced anecdotally by Cole Frawner’s third-period, game-tying goal in Saturday’s comeback 4-3 win over visiting Chippewa.
Trailing 3-1 midway through the third period, Oliver Salo’s goal cut Anchorage’s deficit to one goal before, with less than four minutes to go, Frawner skated through neutral ice on right wing and fired a shot on Steel goaltender Carter Wishart before heading off for a change. The long-range salvo beat Wishart for a 3-3 tie, then Kade Shea notched the game-winning strike off a Salo helper to secure victory with 45 seconds left.
Anchorage’s own Cole Frawner crashes the net. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Frawner’s goal was the first of his NAHL career.
The Wolverines again received ample goaltending. Anchorage’s Vaughn Makar, its No. 2 masked man, stopped 28 shots to improve to 7-2-0 with a 3.04 goals-against average and .902 save percentage.
No. 1 goalie Liam Beerman followed Sunday with his first shutout, a 33-save gem that backed a 4-0 win and the series sweep. He’s 19-9-3, 2.51, .902.
Next up for Anchorage is a home-and-home series against the Kenai River Brown Bears, Friday in Anchorage and Saturday in Soldotna.
The eighth-place Brown Bears snapped their 18-game losing streak (0-16-2) with Saturday’s 6-3 road win over the sixth-place Fairbanks Ice Dogs. That marked Kenai’s first victory since a 4-3 win in Anchorage on Dec. 2. Kenai River forward Carter McCormick contributed a primary assist for the Brown Bears in the skid-halting win.
Elsewhere in the NAHL, a couple of Alaska goalies who play Outside racked wins.
Rochester Jr. Americans goalie Florian Wade of Anchorage stopped 33 shots Saturday in a 7-2 win at Maine to give him an 8-1-1 record in his last 10 starts. He’s 17-6-3, 2.77, .916.
Zakari Brice of Fairbanks stopped 29 shots Saturday in the New Jersey Titans’ 10-1 romp over Danbury to improve to 13-11-1, 3.32, .893.
Meanwhile, in the United States Hockey League, the country’s top junior circuit, Anchorage’s Mac Swanson continues to flourish for the league-leading – by a lot – Fargo Force (39-5-2). Swanson delivered one goal and one helper in Friday’s 4-0 win at Omaha and a goal in Sunday’s 6-2 win at Sioux City. The Force have won 10 straight, own 14 more standings points than any other team in the league and have a goal differential of plus-117 in just 46 games.
Swanson in 40 games owns 19-35—54 totals and a plus-33 rating that puts him tied for second in the league in plus-minus, tied for third in points and tied for fourth in assists.
