Posted: Saturday, October 18, 2014 12:47 am
The Fairbanks Ice Dogs took control in the second period against the Coulee Region Chill and took over first place in the North American Hockey League’s Midwest Division.
The Ice Dogs, led by 21 saves from goaltender Chase Munroe and two players with two points apiece, rolled to a 5-1 win over the Chill in Friday night’s second contest of the three-game divisional series in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Yannick Vedel’s two goals and a goal and an assist from Hans Gorowsky helped Fairbanks to its second straight win in the Green Island Ice Arena and to the top of the Midwest standings at 7-6-1 for 15 points.
The Ice Dogs are one point ahead of the second-place Minnesota Wilderness, who were idle Friday and are not playing today.
The Ice Dogs pulled out a 6-5 shootout win over the Chill on Thursday. In comparing the series opener and Friday’s game, Fairbanks head coach Trevor Stewart said his team were just a little smarter the second game.
“We were just a little smarter in the areas when we possessed the puck,’’ Stewart said by cellphone. “For the most part, we kept them to the outside as well as we could.
“There’s still things we need to get better at, and the game was really closer than 5-1,’’ he added, “but we were a little better than (Thursday).”
The Ice Dogs went on an offensive tear in the second period after the Chill’s Dominik Florian scored at 16:07 of the first period with an assist from Isaac Theisen.
Vedel, with Cayden Cahill’s assist, tied the score at 4:34 of the second with the only power-play goal of the night. Hans Gorowsky beat Chill netminder Adam Carlson with an unassisted shot for the go-ahead marker at 8:43.
Jacob Hetz padded the lead to 3-1 at 10:11, aided by Chandler Madry’s assist. Vedel stretched the Ice Dogs’ margin at 14:39 of the second, courtesy of Lonnie Clary’s helper.
“He played hard and he put the puck in good areas when he went to to the net,’’ Stewart said. “He was rewarded for going to the net, so he had a strong game today.”
Ryner Gorowsky, with assists from his brother, Hans, and from Ethan Somoza, sealed the win at 11:14 of the third period.
Carlson finished with 35 saves for the Chill, who shifted into fourth place with a 5-3-2 mark.
The series closes with today’s contest at 4 p.m. ADT.
Contact sports editor Danny Martin at 459-7586. Follow him on Twitter:
@newsminersports.
