One of Alaska’s two Robertson Cup playoff teams wrestled back home-ice advantage Friday night while thousands of miles away.

The other lost it in The 907 while on a familiar sheet of ice.

Buoyed by their season’s two best performers to date, the Anchorage Wolverines surprised the North American Hockey League Midwest Division regular-season champion Minnesota Wilderness in Proctor, Minn., a few miles west of Duluth. After leading the NAHL with 42 goals during the regular season, NCAA Division I Long Island commit Luc Bydal (Grand Forks, N.D.) turned in a hat trick during Anchorage’s 3-2 win. Goaltender Kai Weigel (Bismarck, N.D.) recorded 28 saves as the Wolverines captured Game 1 in the best-of-five Midwest semifinals.

Nearly 45 minutes after Anchorage put a bow on its victory, the Wisconsin Windigo and Fairbanks Ice Dogs started their semifinal series inside Fairbanks’ Big Dipper Arena. The Windigo scored three third-period goals and goalie Max Larsson tossed a 31-save shutout in a 3-0 triumph. Wisconsin earned a 1-0 series lead.

North American Hockey League

Robertson Cup Playoffs
Division Semifinals (Best of 5)
Midwest Division
Anchorage Wolverines vs. Minnesota Wilderness (ANC leads 1-0)
Game 1 – Anchorage 3, Minnesota 2
Game 2 – Saturday @ MIN, 4:15 p.m. AKDT

Wisconsin Windigo vs. Fairbanks Ice Dogs (WIS leads 1-0)
Game 1 –Wisconsin 3, Fairbanks 0
Game 2 – Saturday @ FBK, 7:30 p.m.

Central Division
Watertown Shamrocks vs. Austin Bruins (AUS leads 1-0)
Game 1 – Austin 3, Watertown 2
Game 2 – Saturday @ AUS, 4:05 p.m.

Aberdeen Wings vs. Bismarck Bobcats (ABR leads 1-0)
Game 1 – Aberdeen 3, Bismarck 0
Game 2 – Saturday @ BIS, 4:15 p.m.

East Division
Danbury Hat Tricks vs. Maryland Black Bears (MYD leads 1-0)
Game 1 – Maryland 6, Danbury 2
Game 2 – Saturday @ MYD, 3 p.m.

Northeast Generals vs. Rochester Jr. Americans (ROC leads 1-0)
Game 1 – Rochester 4, Northeast 3 OT
Game 2 – Saturday @ ROC, 3 p.m.

South Division
Shreveport Mudbugs vs. Lone Star Brahmas (LON leads 1-0)
Game 1 – Lone Star 4, Shreveport 1
Game 2 – Saturday @ LON, 4:30 p.m.

El Paso Rhinos vs. New Mexico Ice Wolves (ELP leads 1-0)
Game 1 – El Paso 6, New Mexico 5 OT
Game 2 – Saturday @ NMX, 4:30 p.m.

The second game of each series is Saturday, both in the same place. Game 3 in each series will go down Sunday, also in Proctor and Fairbanks. While the Ice Dogs have some heavy lifting to do, Anchorage guaranteed itself no worse than two games in front of Sullivan Arena’s faithful if the series goes the distance.

In the Robertson Cup playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons of existence, the Wolverines improved to 20-8-0 and 10-1-0 in division semifinal contests, aka the opening round.

Bydal opened the scoring 1 minute, 18 seconds into play Friday. He handled a rebound and put a puck past Minnesota’s Ryan Gerlich (24 saves) at 14:37 of the second for a 2-1 Anchorage lead. But a whiff of Bydal’s DI talent was apparent 8:44 into the final period. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound forward whipped his way down the slot’s left side and rifled a shot past Gerlich inside the right post to fashion his squad a 3-1 edge.

Staked to the two-goal advantage, Weigel spent much of the third period’s middle stretch repeatedly coming up big. In a 57-second span, he stopped Minnesota’s Avery Anderson and Caleb Kim. Anderson’s attempt from the right side just above the goal line was rebuffed by Weigel. Anderson stood stunned for several seconds.

A bit of an official-scoring head scratcher, all three of Bydal’s goals were deemed unassisted. The win at Minnesota was Anchorage’s third of the season in five attempts. The Wilderness finished the regular season with 10 more victories and 19 more Midwest standings points than the Wolverines.

In Fairbanks, the Windigo and Ice Dogs combined for 35 shots in a scoreless first two periods. Wisconsin’s Joshua Sardo broke the ice with a power-play goal 12:55 into the final period. Alexis Georgaklis and Peyton Mithmuangneau each totaled two assists.

Ice Dogs goalie Miles Roberts (Costa Mesa, Calif.) finished with 18 saves.

Game 1 featured 38 combined penalty minutes.

ONE-TIMERS

• Elsewhere in the NAHL, Anchorage goalie Florian Wade made 34 saves in the Rochester Jr. Americans’ 4-3 Game 1 home overtime win over the Northeast Generals. Wade, 21, won 18 times and fashioned a 2.39 goals-against average for Rochester during the regular season.
• A couple of Anchorage forwards enjoyed memorable ECHL (AA-level pro) evenings Friday. Nolan Walker scored a goal and two assists while finishing plus-5 in Kalamazoo’s (Mich.) 5-4 road win at Cincinnati. A former UAA Seawolf, Tanner Edwards enjoyed a two-point night and plus-3 rating in Adirondack’s (N.Y.) 7-5 home win over Trois-Rivieres.
• Coming to you from the blue line, Eagle River defenseman Cam McDonald registered his first pro goal in ECHL Worcester’s (Mass.) 3-1 win against Maine on Wednesday. McDonald has now totaled a goal and 26 assists in 112 combined ECHL and AHL (AAA-level) games.