As predicted, there were some changes this week in the NAHL’s Midwest Division. Despite their 4-2 win over the Magicians, last weeks’ division leader, Fairbanks, split their two Minnesota games losing to Central Division leader Austin 2-1 before beating the Magicians 4-2. That was enough to drop the Ice Dogs to third place this week.
The Magicians loss kept them in fifth place. The only Midwest Division team below .500 is Wenatchee and they are in sixth place.
Kenai River ran the table at Wenatchee; that was no surprise here. Kenai beat the Wild 4-3 (in a shootout) Friday, 3-1 Saturday and 4-3 Sunday.
The Brown Bears Alex Butcher led the way in Kenai’s sweeping the Wild. Butcher scored two goals in Friday’s shootout (Butcher also scored the winning shootout goal); scored one goal and got two assists in Saturday’s 3-1 win; and scored a goal and got one assist in Sunday’s game. Over the weekend, Butcher added four goals and three assists to his point totals.
Andover’s Chase Perry was in the nets for the Wild against Kenai River for two of games and posted two losses.
The three wins put Kenai in first place. They hold a 3 point lead over the Wilderness, who as predicted here, swept visiting Janesville 3-1 and 4-2, took over second place. Kasimir Kaskisuo, the Wilderness goalie, was in the nets for both games and now has an 8-1-2 record, giving up 1.25 goals a game while stopping 95% of the shots on goal.
The Coulee Region came back last weekend. After striking out the week before, the Chill won both their games beating Janesville 6-3 and Austin 3-1. Edina’s Adam Carlson was in the nets for the Chills win over Janesville. The two wins kept the Chill two games above .500.