The Fairbanks Ice Dogs built an early three-goal lead and survived a late rally from the Kenai River Brown Bears to beat their North American Hockey League West Division rival 3-2 on Saturday night in Soldotna.

“It’s a disappointing effort,” Fairbanks coach Josh Hauge said by phone. “We got outworked, we got outhit and their top players were playing better than our top players.”

“It was huge,” forward James Saintey said of the win. “It gave us momentum for this three-game series. We can play 60 minutes and put it to ’em.”

“We’re going to have to forget about this game and move on to the next game (at 7:30 tonight),” said Ice Dogs forward Mark Pustin, who scored the first goal off a nifty feed from Kyle Politz barely five minutes into the contest attended by 2,349 rowdy fans.

Jared Larson was named Sherwood/NAHL West Player of the Week for his 4 goal, 2 assist performance against Alpena.

The countdown has begun for the much-anticipated Ice Dogs 2009-2010 Home Opener. Don’t miss a second of the action. The puck drops on Friday, October 9th at 7:30 PM at the Big Dipper Arena. Get your tickets today!

Get your 2009-2010 Season Tickets now! Great seats are still available.

The Ice Dogs went 3-1-0 in Showcase play, getting the 2009-2010 season off to a fantastic start.