WASILLA — A full-price ticket to an Alaska Avalanche game costs $12. Alex Young's performance to start Saturday’s game was worth at least that much.

 Young had a goal, assist and fighting major in the first half of the first period of Alaska's 6-3 win over the Kenai River Brown Bears at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla.

 “That's a Gordie Howe hat trick,” Alaska head coach Jamie Smith said following the game.

Alaska Avalanche JC Richardson and Joe Harren battle Kenai River Brown Bears Scott Deur and Justin Hancock for control of the puck during the second period of Saturday's game at the Curtis C. Menard Memorial Ice Rink.

 Kent Detlefsen added two goals and an assist for the Avalanche, while Jeremiah Dargis netted the game-winner late in the second period as the Avs won their fifth game in a row for the first time in franchise history. The victory gave Alaska 11 wins and 24 points through its first 23 games, the team's best start since the Avalance began their tenure in Wasilla during in 2005. During last season's last-place campaign, Alaska didn't win its 11th game of the season until December 22.

 Dusan Sidor made 39 saves for the Avs, one night after Nathan Corey stoned the Brown Bears with 36 saves in Alaska's 2-1 shootout win at the Subway Centre in Anchorage.

 “We're getting some fantastic goaltending right now,” Smith said.

 Fans had to arrive early to catch the start of Young's show, as the Anchorage-raised forward and Kenai River's Scott Deur got into a scrap immediately after the puck dropped. Both players got in plenty of licks as the home crowd roard its approval of the early fisticuffs. Though winners aren’t declared in hockey fights, Young did have a heavily-bruised right hand following the game — and no marks on his face.

 Young said the brawl was the result of some bad blood that had been brewing between the Kenai River forward and Alaska for several games.

 “He'd been kinda chirping to our whole team,” Young said.

 The fight was the first of three throw-downs between the two Southcentral Alaska rivals, who are in the middle of playing seven games in a row against one another.

 Familiarity must breed contempt, as Houston's Larry Kincaid and Wasilla's Jeremiah Dargis also dropped the gloves in one of the most entertaining hockey games of the season.

 The Avs have now taken four of five from the Brown Bears, including the last four in a row.

 “They're a tough team, and they don't like to lose,” Young explained. “And we keep beating them.”

 The teams settled down briefly after Young's fight, but midway through the period things again heated up when Detlefsen unleashed his howitzer-like slapshot, ripping the puck past Kenai River goalie Matt Wichorek just nine seconds into an Alaska power play. Young netted an assist on the play.

 Fifteen seconds later, Young again got into the act, putting in a rebound to stake the Avs to a 2-0 lead after the team had taken just three shots. The goal capped an unusually active first period for Young, who picked up a goal, assist and fighting major in less than nines minutes of play.

 Kenai River got a couple early scares in the period, first when Jon Larson caught a stick to the face and left with blood pouring from a cut to the face, then later when Jed McGlasson suffered a freak injury after slamming into the corner of a just-opened penalty box door. McGlasson was on the ice for several minutes before leaving the rink with a broken left hand. Larson was able to return to the game with a bandaged nose.

 Dan Christiansen cut the Alaska lead to 2-1 just 16 seconds into the second period, finishing up Deur's wraparound try with a clean wrister past Alaska goalie Dusan Sidor. Alaska forward Larry Kincaid didn't take kindly to Christiansen's antics in the minutes following the goal, and the two Alaska products — Christiansen hails from Soldotna while Kincaid is a Houston High product — got into the game's second fight.

 Moments after the fight, Detlefsen picked up his second goal of the game, giving Alaska a 3-1 lead less than five minutes into the second. The defenseman from Lakeview, Minnesota leads the team with 11 goals on the season — all coming after a November trade brought him to the team from Alexandria.

 The Brown Bears again fought back from a two goal deficit, cutting the lead to 3-2 on Kevin Wentland's wrist shot over Sidor's glove hand. Kenai River then tied the game on a Jeffery Harris wrist shot, but Dargis gave the Avs a lead they would not relinquish heading into the second intermission with his seventh goal of the year.

 Dargis' goal held up until late in the third, when Alaska's Grant Highley netted an insurance strike off a Ryan Schmidt feed from behind the net. Tommy Engseth added an empty-netter with just under a minute left to provide the final margin of victory. Engseth's goal was the second in the final five and a half minutes from Alaska's fourth line — Engseth, Schmidt and Highley — a fact Smith said gives him a lot of confidence in his team's depth.

 “Our fourth line played fantastic tonight,” Smith said.

 Outside a raucous Alaska locker room, Young said the Avalanche have started to hit their stride during the team's recent run of good fortune.

 “When you start winning, everybody's happy,” he said. “Everyone's looking forward to showing up for practice, looking forward to the next game, the next day. Everyone's just starting to come together.”

 The weekend sweep of the Brown Bears also moved the team into a tie with Fairbanks for third place in the North American Hockey League's South Division. Wichita Falls currently leads the South with 29 points, while Topeka is second with 25. The expansion Brown Bears are tied with Texas for last in the division with just 14 points through 22 games this season.

 Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com

AVALANCHE 6, BROWN BEARS 3

Alaska 2-2-2 — 6

Kenai River 0-3-0 — 3

First period - 1. Alaska- Detlefsen (Young, Pichler), pp, 8:34; 2. Alaska- Young (Currier, Pichler), 8:49.

Second period - 3. Kenai River- Christiansen (Deur, Murphy), 0:16; 4. Alaska- Detlefsen (Young, Currier), 3:45; 5. Kenai River- Wentland (Wiesner, Jenkins), 5:20; 6. Kenai River- J. Harris (Wentland, Johansson), 10:37; 7. Alaska- Currier (Detlefsen, Dargis), pp, 14:58.

Third period - 8. Alaska- Highley (Schmidt, Engseth), 14:35; 9. Alaska- Engseth (Young, Highley), 19:03.

Shots on goal: Alaska 6-13-8 — 27, Kenai River 12-17-13 — 42. Saves: Alaska- Sidor 12-14-13 — 39, Kenai River- Wichorek 4-11-6 — 21. Power plays: Alaska 2 for 4, Kenai River 0 for 8. Penalties: Alaska 11 for 31, Kenai River 8 for 25.