Avalanche increase lead in West with 4-2 win on Thursday

Alaska 4 @ Kenai River 2 - The 1st place Avalanche picked up a 4-2 victory over the Brown Bears in Kenai on Thursday.  The win gave Alaska a six-point lead over second-place Fairbanks.  Four different players found the back of the net for the Avs.  Connor Wright put the Avs on the scoreboard first less than six minutes into the first period with an unassisted goal.  In the 2nd period, it was a pari of power plat goals from Evan Janssen and Jordan Watt that would put the Avs up 3-0.  The Brown Bears spoiled the shutout when Alex Frere scored late in the 2nd period, but Evan Hesse answered for the Avs about 3 minutes later to make it 4-1.  That was all the Avalanche would need, as the only offensive action in the final stanza came on a Chris Nuth goal for Kenai River to round out the scoring in third period that saw both teams combine to put three shots on net, one for the Avs and two for the Brown Bears.  Nick Kulmanovsky earned the win in net for the Avalanche, stopping 18 of the 20 shots he faced. For Kenai, Austin Severson was tagged with the loss, making 15 saves on 19 shots. Boxscore

Minot 1 @ Alexandria 3 – Seth Ronsberg, Craig Lindegard and Aidan Cavallini all scored for Alexandria as they posted a 3-1 home win over the Minot Minotauros.  Hunter Bergerson had the lone goal for Minot.  The Blizzard scored in each period and got 32 saves from Jacob Meyers in the win.  Jake Hebda shined for Minot in the loss, making 42 saves. Boxscore