FAIRBANKS- After posting wins of 2-0 and 4-1 over the Janesville Jets in games one and two of their best of five Midwest Divisional playoff, the Fairbanks Ice Dogs head south looking for a closeout win. The other Midwest Divisional series, between the Minnesota Magicians and the Springfield Jr. Blues, is tied 1-1 after a pair of games in Minnesota.
Game three between the Dogs and Jets comes Friday at 7 p.m. CDLT (4 p.m. in Fairbanks). The Finish Line Restaurant is hosting a viewing party Friday night, and will do so for all road games of the post season. Should the series extend, game four comes at 7 p.m. Saturday, and a fifth and deciding game would be scheduled for a 3 p.m. face-off on Sunday. The Dogs would technically be the home team in a game five, which would be played in Janesville.
NHL Central Scouting released its final ranking of North American skaters on Monday. Ice Dog rookie Jonny Sorenson ranks 205 on the list. Sorenson led the Dogs with 56 points, off 17 goals and 39 assists in the regular season. He is yet to mark the scoresheet in post season play.
The Vancouver Canucks will host the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. This year’s Draft will be held over two days on June 21-22, 2019. A total of 30 players with NAHL ties have been selected in the past five years of the NHL Draft, including Ice Dog forward Todd Burgess (Ottawa) and defenseman Benton Mass (Washington). All six of the current NAHL players on the final scouting list play out of the Midwest Division, the best division in the league.
Ice Dogs forward Luke Mobley announced on Monday his verbal commitment to play Division 1 hockey for Clarkson out of the ECAC. There are several ties between the Golden Knights. Clarkson Assistant Coach Josh Hauge spent three years as the Ice Dogs bench boss, winning the program’s first Robertson Cup national championship in 2011. Goaltender Steve Perry, a member of that 2011 championship team played four years in net for the Golden Knights. Forward Brett Gervais won the Robertson Cup championship at the Big Dipper in 2014. He also played four seasons at Clarkson.
