After dropping the first of their three game-series with the Chippewa Steel in a shootout on Thursday, the Anchorage Wolverines bounced back and kicked the weekend off right with a commanding 5-1 victory on Friday night.
“Last night the first two periods they outplayed us. We didn’t work hard enough, we didn’t play the way we needed to be successful,” Wolverines coach Mike Aikens said. “Tonight I felt good about it from the drop of the puck. We worked hard, played physical and did the little things we needed to do and it was nice to capitalize on the power play.”
It was a one-goal game heading into the third period with the home town team holding the slight advantage on the scoreboard in physical game that saw multiple scrums on the ice throughout the night including one that had a player get thrown out the game for fighting in the first 20 minutes.
Drake Albers helped the Wolverines (65 points) make the most of their power play-opportunities in final period by scoring a pair of goals less than three minutes apart to extend the team’s lead to a comfortable margin.
“I thought we really just focused on getting pucks in the net and making sure to take the goalie’s eyes away and when the pucks were there, making sure we were ready for them and capitalizing,” Albers said.
The Detroit, Michigan, native had some extra motivation in the crowd as he had his best game of the season. The last time his girlfriend was his town, he didn’t get suit up because of an injury. This time around, he was able to show out for her, his teammates and all in attendance.
“The week before she flew up I broke my wrist so she didn’t get to see me play which as frustrating,” Albers said. “She finally got to see me play at home and I bet she had a good night.”
The Wolverines drew first blood in a very physical opening period after Kory Diponio scored the first goal just over four minutes into the game thanks to assists from Matt Johnson and Clay Allen.
Neither team was able to capitalize on their first power-play opportunities that overlapped for a short time but Chippewa (47 points) was able to knot the game up at one goal apiece on their second power-play at the 11:06 mark.
Assisted by teammates Parker Gnos and John Kelly, the Steel’s Colin Tushie was able to find the back of the net for the game-tying score.
The remainder of the period wound up going scoreless despite several prime opportunities for both teams on and off of power-plays. Johnson would have his night cut short after he was ejected for picking up a pair of fighting penalties, one major and one instigator.
“I was proud of him for stepping up for his teammate and I’m not sure he deserved to get kicked out the game for an instigator penalty,” Aikens said. “We’re going to have the league review that.”
Both teams did a better job of keeping their composure in the second period and didn’t send nearly as many players to the penalty box as they did in the first.
The only goal that was scored in the second period belonged to the home team and came courtesy of Hunter Bischoff following assists from Albers and Campbell Cichosz after just under six minutes had elapsed.
In the third period, both the intensity and penalties ratcheted back up. However, this time around, Anchorage seized the numbers advantage on several of their power play opportunities to explode for three unanswered goals led by Albers and capped off by Hunter Schmitz.
“That’s one thing we’ve been trying to work on,” Albers said. “Let them get frustrated and keep our even keel. When we get our power play, we got to capitalize and make them pay for being hot-headed and us just keeping it cool.”
He doesn’t the recall the last time he scored a pair of goals in single game but his head coach was more certain and had some high praise for him.
“I’m sure it was last year in midget hockey,” Aikens said. “He was a prolific scorer in midgets. He is a guy that does have a nose for the net and will score goals for us. He competes hard and it was nice to see him get rewarded with some goals and they came at a critical time.”
The Wolverines are currently fighting for a playoff spot and earned a crucial two points in the standings with the victory.
“They just kept their nose to the grindstone there and trusted the process that when you do things right, you’ll get rewarded in the long run,” Aikens added.