The Anchorage Wolverines celebrate a goal while a dejected Chippewa Steel player skates off. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
The Anchorage Wolverines didn’t savor a great weekend in Fairbanks to close the North American Hockey League regular season, but they did just enough – the bare minimum – to seize their first Midwest Division title in their three-season existence.
The Wolverines’ 5-4 shootout loss to the Fairbanks Ice Dogs on Saturday night secured them the one point needed to break a tie with the Wisconsin Windigo and secure home ice for the first two rounds of the Robertson Cup playoffs.
At 39-14-7, Anchorage’s 85 points edged Wisconsin, which finished 39-15-6 for 84 points. The Wolverines set franchise records for wins and points.
Anchorage will entertain the fourth-place Minnesota Wilderness (30-25-5, 65 points) in the first two games of a first-round, best-of-5 series on Friday and Saturday nights at Ben Boeke Arena. For what it’s worth, Anchorage went 2-3-1 against Minnesota in the regular season, including 1-1-1 at Boeke.
Anchorage’s 3-2 loss in Fairbanks on Friday snapped the Wolverines’ franchise-record, 19-game point streak (17-0-2), which included a franchise-record, 12-game winning streak. The Wolverines went 17-1-3 for 37 points in their final 21 games to win the division, but the Windigo didn’t make it easy, going 15-5-1 in their final 21 games.
Anchorage’s loss Friday came when it got straight-up goalied – Fairbanks’ Tyler Krivtsov delivered a career-high 49 saves as the Wolverines outshot the Ice Dogs, 51-23. The Wolverines fired 23 second-period shots to match the Ice Dogs’ three-period total.
The Wolverines’ playoff series against Minnesota marks their first postseason games since their inaugural season of 2021-22, when they roared through the postseason and reached the Robertson Cup Final, where they fell to the New Jersey Titans. Anchorage did not qualify for the playoffs last season.
Anchorage native Camden Shasby moves the puck up ice. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Anchorage enters the postseason buoyed by goaltender Liam Beerman, who went 27-9-3 with a 2.37 goals-against average, .923 save percentage and four shutouts. Vaughn Makar of Anchorage has proved a steady option, going 10-2-3, 2.95, .909.
Offensively, the Wolverines have four players who scored 50 points or more across the 60-game regular season: Fyodor Nikolayenya (27-37—64 in 58 games), Bryce Monrean of Anchorage (21-41—63 in 59GP), Oliver Salo (17-38—55 in 56GP) and Cole Christian (20-30—50 in 57GP). Defensemen Trenton Powell of Soldotna (8-34—42 in 52GP) and Camden Shasby of Anchorage (7-27—34 in 41GP) boost the back end.
The Wolverines in a press release said playoff tickets will go live at noon Monday.