Soldotna, Alaska – Jackson Ebbott’s hat-trick was the difference on Thursday night as the Kenai River Brown Bears edged the Jr. Blues 4-2 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.
Kenai Jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening period on a pair of goals from Ebbot. In the second period, the Jr. Blues would make it a one goal game after Andon Coles found the back of the net on a 5-3 power play. However, Ebbott would strike again with his team on the man advantage to make it 3-1 when he one-timed a shot past Jr. Blues goaltender JJ Cataldo. Carter Gillen would add another marker for the Brown Bears before the period would end as his point shot beat Cataldo and sent the Jr. Blues to the locker room trailing 4-1.
The Jr. Blues came out hard to start the third period peppering Brown Bears goaltender Conor Sullivan with shots. Anthony Ruklic would score his 4th goal in the last three games as he beat Sullivan with a power play tally midway through the period. Down by two goals, the Jr. Blues would pull Cataldo for the extra attacker but could not a find a way to beat Sullivan and Kenai would hang on for a 4-2 win.
The two teams are back at it again tonight at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex with a 10:30 PM CST puck drop. You can catch all the action live on NAHLTV.com.
