The Ice Dogs officially qualified for the playoffs earlier this week for the 24th consecutive season.
The Ice Dogs, having earned 45 points on the season, have officially clinched a spot in the 2020-2021 NAHL playoffs. In their 24 year existence, this is the 24th time the Dogs have reached the second season.
The Janesville Jets scored with 2:18 left in regulation to tie the game and earned a game-winning goal of their own at the 3:14 mark of overtime to defeat Fairbanks 4-3. The OT loss dropped the Dogs to 21-18-2-1 with 45 points on the season.
After the Janesville Jets overcame a three-goal deficit in the third period to force overtime, the Fairbanks’ Austin Becker only needed 10 extra seconds to end the game as his goal sent a sigh of relief throughout the Dipper and gave the Ice Dogs a 5-4 win in extra time.
Fairbanks hadn’t played a game in nearly three weeks and it showed both early on and late. The end result was a 5-3 loss to the Janesville Jets to drop the Dogs to 20-18-1-1 on the season with 42 points.
After 13 months away from Fairbanks, the Ice Dogs will return to the Big Dipper Ice Arena Thursday night at 7 p.m. to host the Janesville Jets.
Thursday’s pregame also will feature one more celebration as the team will honor three young men who have worked their way into leadership positions all season long.
Tickets for the Dogs’ seven home games in Fairbanks went on sale Monday morning. By Tuesday morning, every last ticket was sold out.
The Ice Dogs unveiled their ticket plan for the remainder of the 2021 season. There will be seven home games and fans will have the opportunity to watch the Dogs in person for each of them.
“Due to a scheduling change in Kenai, our first game in Alaska will be April 22 at the Big Dipper against Janesville,” the Ice Dogs announced via their social media page.
