The Anchorage Wolverines are about to leave home for quite a while. Man, oh man, did they ever make a lasting impression on the way out the proverbial door.

Inside an unusually warm Sullivan Arena and with an announced crowd of 1,927 looking on, Anchorage’s own Jason Bourdukofsky scored in the late stages of the third period to secure one of the most improbable home-team victories the old Midtown barn has seen in some time. The Wolverines scored five consecutive goals to claim a 6-5 North American Hockey League win and a three-game, weekend sweep of the visiting Springfield (Ill.) Jr. Blues.

“This was probably one of the wildest games I’ve ever been part of,” an exasperated Wolverines second-year coach Nick Walters said. “But this group is interesting because there is no quit.”

Walters’ team was down 4-1 after 20 minutes of play. The coach didn’t bother coming into the dressing room during the first intermission to undress his squad.

“It really came down to being all about the fellas,” said Bourdukofsky, 18. “Maybe we got a little confident these last few games. But we knew we had to get down to business when (Walters) didn’t come in the room. It was serious.

“We had to bounce back. We had to show up if we wanted to win, and we trusted each other.”

Anchorage’s crazy comeback not only concluded Military Appreciation Weekend, but the Wolverines’ 10-game homestand. They went 9-1-0 from Oct. 25 to Sunday and the 16-4-1 overall record put Anchorage in a tie for first place with the Wisconsin Windigo in the NAHL’s Midwest Division.

NAHL Midwest Division

PTS	TEAM	RECORD
33	Anchorage	16-4-1
33	Wisconsin	15-2-3
25	Choppewa	11-8-3
25	Fairbanks	11-3-3
20	Springfield	10-9-0
19	Kenai River	8-12-3
19	Minnesota	8-10-3
13	Janesville	5-12-3

The Wolverines now play 10 away games starting next weekend in Fairbanks. They don’t return to the friendliest of confines that Sullivan has become until Jan. 10. Bourdukofsky said the Wolverines won’t change when they hit the road.

“We’ll do what we’ve been doing in the Sully,” he said. “We’ll keep playing, working our butts off and win some games.”

Bourdukofsky snapped a 5-5 tie with his fourth goal of the season at 16 minutes, 56 seconds of the third. He directed a rebound to the left of Springfield goaltender Frank Murphy (26 saves) into the net after making a wise poke check on a Blues defender.

In only his second appearance for Anchorage since arriving from NAHL’s Amarillo (Texas), goalie William Lubimov (Philadelphia) made 11 saves in relief of starter Leo Henriquez. Defenseman Brock Devlin (Mission Viejo, Calif.) finished with three points.

One of the handful of Alaska kids playing Outside in the NAHL, Anchorage’s Aiden Hickok scored Springfield’s first goal 34 seconds into play. A large contingent of family and friends sitting in section 102 rightfully lost their minds in excitement for Hickok’s third goal of the season.

“Yeah, that was pretty cool,” said Hickok, who graduated from Service High via online courses after leaving the state in 2022.

Before the weekend, Hickok last played a game in Anchorage with his Team Alaska 15U AAA team.

Meanwhile, home or away, the Wolverines hope to keep on building on their success.

“We know what we’re getting into,” Walters said. “This has been a great homestand, and now we have to win some tough games on the road.”

ONE-TIMERS

• Military Appreciation Weekend meant the Wolverines wore stellar America-themed jerseys. The Navy blue, red and white sweaters featured images of the stars and stripes along the shoulders and more. Through Sunday night, auctioning off the gear had raised more than $63,000 to help benefit the United Services Organization (USO). The online auction (https://fans.winwithdash.com/team/anchoragewolverines) portion of the festivities conclude Tuesday.
• The Fairbanks Ice Dogs swept a weekend series in Soldotna, capping it with a 2-1 shootout win over the struggling Kenai River Brown Bears on Saturday. The teams combined for 80 shots on goal. Ice Dogs defenseman Ian Norkevicus (Pittsburgh) scored the decisive skills competition goal in the third round. Kenai River goalie Mitchell McCusker (Alpharetta, Ga.) totaled 45 saves. Fairbanks won its second straight and for the sixth time in its last 10 games (6-2-2). The Brown Bears have posted a 1-7-2 mark in their last 10 contests.
• Former Brown Bears forward and current UAA freshman Dylan Contreras (Yorba Linda, Calif.) enjoyed himself quite the weekend. He scored his first collegiate goal on a beauty of a snipe in Friday’s 3-2 overtime loss to UAF at the Avis Alaska Sports Complex. He popped in two empty-goals Saturday as the Seawolves bounced back in the Alaska Airlines Governor’s Cup series in a big way with a 6-1 triumph over the Nanooks. Contreras scored 55 points in 2023-24 60 NAHL regular-season games for Kenai River. Brandon Lajoie (Eagle River) and Porter Schachle (Wasilla) also scored. The six-game Governor’s Cup series is tied 1-1. UAA (2-8-0) welcomes Lake Superior State to the AASC on Saturday and Sunday. UAF (4-6-2) next plays at No. 3 Minnesota on Nov. 29.
• Second-year Wolverines forward Tai Ushio (Makubetsu, Japan) returned to the team this weekend after playing for Team Japan in the inaugural International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Asia Championship tournament in Kazakhstan. The UAF commit totaled one goal in three tournament games and his team finished second. On his first weekend back with the Wolverines, he furnished three goals and three assists. He was also named Sunday’s first star after scoring twice.
• Credit public-address announcer-media personality-hype man extraordinaire Bob Lester with properly calling his shot when the Wolverines trailed by a ton. During the first intermission, he announced the home team would eventually win 6-5. He incorrectly called for a shootout winner. But the prognostication proved impressive, nonetheless.