“We just come out and played our game,” Chill forward Larry Jungwirth said. “Finished hits, got pucks to the net and they went in. The ones that didn’t, we got the rebound and buried those.”

Jakob Stridsberg scored the Ice Dogs lone goal at 7:55 of the first period. The Chill, from La Crosse, Wisconsin, responded with two of their own in the opening frame before adding two more in each the second and third periods.

“In my five years here, that’s easily the most embarrassing loss I’ve ever been a part of,” Ice Dogs head coach Trevor Stewart said.

“I kind of admire Coulee Region,” Stewart continued. “They outworked us from start to finish. It was a simple as that. We really didn’t have the answer.”

Of the Ice Dogs nine total losses during the regular, none were by more than two goals.

The Ice Dogs lost just five games at the Big Dipper this season. The Chill handed the Ice Dogs one of the loses, a 5-4 overtime decision in November.

“We love playing in this building,” Jungwirth said. “They have great fans, obviously they’re booing us. We use that as our motivation too and it worked.”

Game 2 of the best-of-five series is set for 7:30 p.m. today at the Big Dipper Ice Arena. Game 3 will be played at 5 Sunday evening at the Big Dipper.

“First of all, we have to work harder,” Stewart said. “It’s as simple as wanting it more than them. I think it was easy for everyone to see in the building tonight who watched the game, they wanted it.

“They were first to every puck. They won the physical battle, they won the special teams battle. They were way smarter than us, which put us in bad positions and giving up breakaways and 2-on-1s. They had better sticks, better angles. They beat us at everything.”

Jungwirth scored his first of two goals to tie the game at 8:49 of the first period.

Shane Kuzmeski put the Chill ahead for good at 11:12 of the first period, firing a wrist shot from the point past Gavin Nieto while on the power play.

“We knew it was going to be a tough time coming into their building and winning the first game,” Jungwirth said. “We got it done and we’re trying to look for three out of five and get out of here.”

Nico Luka and Andrew Falconer added second-period tallies for the Chill before Jungwirth and Dominik Florian scored in the third period.

The Ice Dogs went scoreless on six power-play opportunities, including three man advantage chances in the second period.

Nieto finished with 11 saves before being replaced by CJ Boothe to start the third period. Boothe stopped eight of the 10 shots he saw.

Matiss Kivlenieks made 24 saves for the Chill.

Contact sports reporter Tim O’Donnell at 459-7583. Follow him on Twitter: 

@FDNMSportsGuy