Anchorage Wolverines deliver huge victory on the road against division-leading Fairbanks Ice Dogs

Anchorage’s Cooper Morris scored his first goal of the season in his 49th game, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

The defenseman playing for his hometown team helped the Wolverines keep pace in a tight playoff race with a 4-2 road win as they beat the division-leading Fairbanks Ice Dogs on Friday at the Big Dipper Ice Arena.

Goaltender Shane Soderwall made 27 saves as the Wolverines (58 points), who are fourth in the NAHL’s Midwest Division, defeated the first-place Ice Dogs (67 points). The top four teams in the division make the playoffs. Anchorage trails the Minnesota Wilderness by a point and is up one point on the fifth-place Janesville Jets.

Bohdan Panasenko, the Ukrainian forward whose family remains overseas with its country at war with Russia, opened the scoring 10 minutes, 33 seconds into the game for Anchorage on a goal assisted by Matt Johnson and Jackson Krock.

Colton Friesen scored his 10th goal of the season unassisted 5:57 into the second period to put the Wolverines up 3-0 after Morris had notched his goal, with assists going to Jackson Reineke and Collin Pederson, at the 3:37 mark of the middle frame.

Cameron Morris, Cooper’s twin brother, gave the goal high marks after his sibling gathered Reineke’s pass at the point on his forehand, switched to his backhand, drove down the wall and then spun a 180 to fire through three or four players and past a screened goalie to tally top shelf.

“It was a pretty electric time to get one, especially against Fairbanks,” Cameron said.

Cooper Morris, meanwhile, just said “It was about time,” and credited Reineke for setting him up.

“Rein-O threaded the needle through about three guys,” he said.

Morris said he’s not concerned about who scores, “as long as the boys keep winning.”

Fairbanks kept it interesting by scoring with 39 seconds left in the second period to make it 3-1. Tyler Stewart scored his 15th goal of the season with the Ice Dogs getting assists from their Swedish connection, Alexander Malinowski — who leads the NAHL in scoring — and defenseman Love Bergvall.

But 11:15 into the third period, Anchorage reestablished a three-goal advantage when Johnson struck for his 18th goal to make it 4-1. Krock and Panesenko recorded assists.

The Ice Dogs’ Tristan Sarsland got his first goal of the season, assisted by Marcus Lund and Brady Welsch, at the 15:20 mark to round out the scoring.

Kayden Hargraves turned back 26 shots in net for Fairbanks, which plays host again Saturday.