Independent file photo Fairbanks’ Evan Junker skates up the ice during their game against the Minnesota Magicians on April 2. The Ice Dogs will come back to Marshall for a pair of games on Dec. 3 and 4.

MARSHALL — After temporarily relocating to Marshall for several months of its 2020-21 season, the Fairbanks Ice Dogs team of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) will come back to town in early December for another stint.

The Ice Dogs will play a pair of games on Dec. 3 and 4 at the Red Baron Arena and Expo at 7:30 p.m. against the Minnesota Wilderness, and Fairbanks general manager Rob Proffitt is excited for the opportunity to return to Marshall and is extremely grateful to the Marshall community for keeping their franchise going during a difficult time.

“It was a really easy decision to come back and I talked to our league commissioner about coming back and he was on board,” Proffitt said. “I can’t express in words my thankfulness for what the community of Marshall has done for us. From the billet families to the volunteers, rink staff and restaurants, it’s an amazing community and I’ve made friends for life. I’ve had a lot of people thank me for having the Ice Dogs come to town and I’m not sure everybody understands how connected we will be with Marshall; they were an absolute pillar during our toughest time and from my heart, the organization’s heart and the communities heart, we’ve created a bond that will last forever.”

Visit Marshall Director Cassi Weiss said they had been in communication with the Ice Dogs quite a bit over the months since the team left in April and are fortunate to have them come back to town.

“We’ve been communicating as often as we need to, Rob’s had some ideas of either coming back for a weekend, doing a tournament, doing an exhibition game, so it was just a matter of what are we going to do and how and when we’re going to do it,” Weiss said. “We were fortunate they were willing to let Rob do that and that he wanted to come back, so we’re really excited for it.”

In addition to the two games that weekend, Weiss said the team will be in Marshall for nine days and will be getting involved with the schools, the youth hockey programs and the high school teams.

“They’ll come in a few days before the games and try to get into the schools to be able to read to students,” Weiss said. “Obviously there are still some COVID restrictions but they want to get integrated into the community whether that’s attending high school games, attending youth hockey practices, the Ice Dogs coaches are going to have a coaches seminar, so they’re really trying to give back more than just coming back and playing two games, they’re giving back to our Association, our community and our coaches.”

Tickets for the games are available through any Marshall Amateur Hockey Association family or at Ace Hardware, Action Sports or the Red Baron Arena.

Proffitt said while they currently don’t have any future games in Marshall planned past December, their goal is keep Marshall and the Red Baron Arena as part of their schedule over the years. Proffitt added they will also be giving back part of their ticket sales to the youth programs.

“We partnered with MAHA on tickets and we’re giving $5 of every ticket sold back to the youth hockey programs in Marshall,” Proffitt said. “If Marshall wasn’t here, we wouldn’t be here. They were the biggest piece of our survival.”