Anchorage’s own Toby Carlson left Sullivan Arena on Saturday thrilled to head to his childhood home for a good night’s sleep.

Only he and the rest of Anchorage Wolverines didn’t have a lazy Sunday ahead of them. Nope, they’ll be right back in action to complete the first of the North American Hockey League regular-season’s four 3-in-3 tall tasks, a staple of Anchorage’s high-level hockey scene for decades.

Carlson, 18, erupted for a three-point third period as the Wolverines scored four answered goals to earn a 6-3 come-from-behind win over the visiting Minnesota Wilderness. Anchorage averted its second losing streak and improved to 6-1 on home ice, which with each outing is proving to be more of an advantage as an announced attendance of 2,827 feverishly watched.

“It’s so special, especially being from here,” said Carlson, the son of former UAA Seawolf Jeff Carlson. “To play in front of these fans, you hear them every night, it’s so loud.”

The Wolverines (12-4-1) and Wilderness (8-8-2) complete the weekend trio of games Sunday at 4 p.m.

“It’s demanding,” Wolverines second-year coach Nick Walters, another local, said of the compacted scheduling. “We’re a little banged up with some guys missing. But we’ll try (Sunday) to get everyone involved. Keep things 5-on-5 as much as possible, roll the lines, roll the lines.”

NAHL Midwest Division

PTS	TEAM	RECORD
29	Wisconsin	13-2-3
25	Anchorage	12-4-1
23	Chippewa	10-7-3
21	Fairbanks	9-3-3
20	Springfield	10-5-0
18	Kenai River	8-11-2
18	Minnesota	8-8-2
11	Janesville	4-11-3

SATURDAY
Anchorage 6, Minnesota 3
Springfield 2, Fairbanks 1
Chippewa 3, Kenai River 1
Janesville 5, Wisconsin 4
SUNDAY
Minnesota at Anchorage, 4pm

Carlson confirmed this Saturday night will be a bit different than the last few.

“We’ll get something quick to eat and go right to bed,” said Carlson, in his rookie NAHL season after spending the last two seasons playing comp in the Detroit area. “It’ll be a little earlier morning (Sunday). We’ll be ready.”

Saturday, the Wolverines gave their adoring crowd quite the hyper third period. The home squad four times in less than six minutes. Danny Bagnole tied the game 3-3 at 3 minutes, 32 seconds on a perfectly executed breakout. Carlson motored down the right boards before finding Bagnole in the left circle.

“I saw Bags far side and it was just a beautiful shot by him,” Carlson said.

Jakub Bednarik put Anchorage up 4-3 and Bagnole scored again. Carlson pumped in a power-play goal at 9:23 to complete the scoring. In 17 games, he’s totaled 11 goals and eight assists. His 19 points are fourth best on the team.

With the Sully audience beside themselves, business picked up only 41 seconds after Carlson’s goal. Anchorage’s Xander Mullens was tied up with Minnesota’s Frantisek Netusil. The two started to go at in front of the Wilderness bench. Eventually, Ryan Warner stepped in for Netusil, who just happens to lead the NAHL in goals. Warner scored a few solid rights on Mullens and the entire melee resulted in 49 combined penalty minutes.

Before skating to the dressing room after assessing a game misconduct, Mullens went full Mighty Ducks 2 – “Bash Brothers,” playing to the crowd just like “Dean Portman” and “Fulton Reed” did in the movie. The fans ate it up as Mullens looked every bit the 17-year-old kid as we were fully reminded that these are junior players, ages 16-20.

A fun watch indeed.

HANGING WITH HISTORY

We noticed it during the Wolverines’ Oct. 11 home opener. The banners recognizing the retired numbers of pros Wes Goldie (No. 16) Dean Larson (No. 18) and Keith Street (No. 8) were nowhere to be seen around the refurbished Sullivan. With a stick salute to the marketing mavens in charge, the omission was remedied Friday night.

The organization smartly hosted Anchorage Hockey Heritage Night and celebrated the history and entertainment the Alaska Aces provided the community from 1995 to 2017. Fans wearing an Aces sweater gained free admission and 2,503 showed up for the 4-2 loss to Minnesota. The evening also featured those banners going back up on the southwest end of the arena.

Goldie, Larson and Street combined to play 16 seasons in Anchorage in both the West Coast Hockey League and ECHL. All told, the trio produced 1,435 regular-season points with Larson’s 784 leading the way. Goldie was part of the Aces’ 2011 Kelly Cup AA-levala national championship. Larson and Street are still popular as ever around town and were part of the festivities.

ONE-TIMERS

• The Wolverines surprised the junior hockey world in their inaugural season (2021-22) when they finished as the NAHL’s Robertson Cup playoffs runner-up. Filmmakers documented the journey in a film titled Hockeytown and the finished project is set to debut next month at the Bear Tooth Theatre pub as part of the Anchorage International Film Festival.
• On the college hockey front, Anchorage’s Khenzie Connick enjoyed a memorable Friday, and her NCAA Division III women’s team loved its weekend. A sophomore, Connick scored three goals in Alverina’s 8-1 win over Stevenson. The points were her first of the season. Alverina is located in Reading, Pa. The team improved to 4-0-0 with a 7-2 win Saturday. In DI men’s play, Anchorage’s Mac Swanson, a North Dakota freshman, delivered a three-point weekend during the Fighting Hawks’ two-game sweep of Minnesota-Duluth. Swanson notched his second goal of the season in Friday’s 7-3 win. UAF won 6-4 at Union on Saturday and will carry a five-game unbeaten run (3-0-2) into next weekend’s Governor’s Cup showdown at UAA.
• Local Wolverines hampered by injuries and out of Saturday’s lineup included defenseman Camden Shasby and goaltender Vaughn Makar. Both players are out with upper-body injuries. Shasby last played Oct. 18.