Finals Bound: Wilderness Slay Bruins to Sweep Series, Advance to Championship
NAHL Minnesota Wilderness

Finals Bound: Wilderness Slay Bruins to Sweep Series, Advance to Championship

Published on May 18, 2026 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Minnesota Wilderness News Release


The Minnesota Wilderness are headed back to the NAHL Robertson Cup championship after a convincing 7-3 victory Saturday night over the Austin Bruins to sweep the best 2-of-3 semifinal series 2-games-to-none.

Talan Blanck and Noah Dziver each posted two goals and two assists to lead Minnesota while Logan Nagle, Caleb Kim and Olle Karlsson scored single goals.

In net, Valdemar Andersen secured his fourth straight playoff victory making 38 saves to remain unbeaten in the post-season.

Blanck got the scoring started when he fired in a rebound of his own shot at the 5:01 mark of the opening period. Assists on the opening goal came from Dziver and Zachary Homer.

After the Bruins evened the score with a power play goal from E.J. Paddington 7:33 into the frame, Minnesota answered less than a minute later on its own man-advantage situation. Dziver used a screed to fire in his first of the game on a wrist shot from the high slot 53 seconds after the Bruins tying score with apples going to Blanck and Matt Hauser.

Minnesota then stretched its lead to four after scoring three goals over a 4:47 span in the second period.

Two of those markers came just 12 seconds apart. Dziver fired in his second of the game and fourth of the playoffs on a one-timer from the left circle 4:17 into the frame, 2 seconds after a Wilderness power play expired, with assists again going to Blanck and Hauser.

On the next shift, Nagle re-directed a shot from Jack Martens to make the score 4-1 at the 4:29 mark with his second post-season tally. That was followed by Kim with his second of the playoffs at 9:04 to expand the lead to 5-1. Kim's goal came on a wrister from the bottom of the right circle with an assist going to Anthony Cappello.

That would end the night for Bruin starting netminder Jack Solomon. The backstop who won the NAHL's top goaltender award for the regular season would play only 29:04, giving up five goals on 17 shots. Cody Butikis replaced Solomon in the Austin goal.

Austin responded by cutting its deficit to three before the middle frame ended when Sam Kline struck on the power play.

The Bruins then had a golden opportunity to get even closer in the final period. A 5-minute major cross-checking penalty on Jackson Reeves put Minnesota in the crosshairs of the NAHL's top power play of the regular season. But Austin would be shut down and instead, the Wilderness tacked on another goal. A short-handed 2-on-1 with Dziver and Blanck resulted in Dziver feeding the puck to Blanck who slammed it in for his 12th of the playoffs at 5:55 of the third.

The Wilderness would end up killing the major power play chance that included two minutes when the squad was down by two after another infraction was whistled on Blanck.

The teams then traded single tallies before the game concluded. Karlsson fired in an empty net goal with 6:44 left for his second of the post-season, and Austin's Gavin Hruza scored with 5:43 on the clock.

Andersen was especially sharp in the final period. The veteran netminder from Denmark faced 20 Bruin shots in the third frame, giving up only one goal.

Austin outshot Minnesota, 41-27.

In relief, Butikis turned aside nine of 10 Minnesota shots.

On the power play, the Wilderness went 1-for-6 while Austin finished 2-for-7.

The Wilderness next move on to the final round of the Robertson Cup playoffs. In its first finals appearance since 2015 when the franchise won its first national championship, Minnesota will take on the Maryland Black Bears Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. The single-game final will be played at Fogerty Arena in Blaine.

Check out the Minnesota Wilderness Statistics

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North American Hockey League Stories from May 18, 2026


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