First Road Sweep Completed at Kenai
November 3, 2024 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Minnesota Wilderness News Release
Five different players lit the lamp Saturday night to lead the Minnesota Wilderness to a 5-2 victory over the Kenai River Brown Bears.
After Jack Clark scored for Kenai to break a 1-1 tie in the final period, Minnesota responded with four unanswered goals. Ben Roulette notched the equalizer 4:39 into the period, just 1:26 after the Brown Bears took a 2-1 lead.
Zach Homer deposited the eventual game-winner with 4:31 left in regulation time. That was followed by an empty net goal from Peyton Struck with 38 seconds left and Ryan Warner firing in one with 11 seconds remaining.
Those tallies were the first for Struck and Warner since joining the Wilderness.
The game started with a scoreless first period. Luke Margenau broke the deadlock for the Wilderness when he drove in his first in his junior career at 7:18 of the 2nd period while on the power play. Kenai responded with Greye Rampton scoring with 6:01 left in the middle frame.
Margenau and Roulette added an assist to their single goals to give both a 2-point night. Logan Nagle led the game in helpers with two.
Also earning assists for the Wilderness were Ferry Netusil, River Freeman, Avery Anderson, Noah Dziver, Nate Murray and Ben Doll.
Nick Erickson earned the win in goal for the Wilderness making 37 saves on 39 shots.
The Brown Bears outshot the Wilderness 39-37. Leif Ekblad suffered the loss stopping 32 of 36 Wilderness shots.
On special team, Minnesota (7-7-2) went 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Wilderness penalty kill shutout the Brown Bears (8-9-1) on one chance.
Friday: Wilderness 6, Brown Bears 3
Netusil posted his second hat trick of the season in leading the Wilderness to victory in Friday night's series-opener.
Minnesota jumped out to a 3-0 lead with two goals from Netusil just 1:06 apart at the 2:25 mark and 3:31 of the opening period. His second tally came on the power play.
Zach Homer then scored on a breakaway to give the Wilderness a three-goal advantage just 45 seconds after Netusil notched his second goal.
Kenai River would get on the board at 11:09 of the first when Michael Fiedorczuk lit the lamp, but the Wilderness would respond with two in the 2nd to extend its lead to four goals. Netusil completed his hat trick with another power play tally with 7:58 remaining in the middle stanza. Freeman than made it 5-1 with a goal with 3:05 left.
Kenai made it interesting in the third when it cut its deficit to two after lamplighters on the power play from Luke Hause and Joseph Yoon. Roulette then clinched the victory by scoring an empty-net goal with 55 seconds left.
Kenai outshot the Wilderness 24-23. Valdemar Andersen earned the win in net for Minnesota with 21 saves.
Kenai played two goaltenders in the game. Owen Zenon played the first 4:15 making 2 saves on four shots. He was replaced by Mitchell McCusker who stopped 15 of 18.
Along with Netusil, three other Wilderness players finished the game with multiple points. Freeman added a helper to give him two points, while Struck, Nagle and Joey Sylvester each posted two assists.
Margenau, Murray, Anderson and Angel Lovecchio each registered single assists for Minnesota.
Penalties filled the game's scoresheet as the teams combined for 140 minutes of infractions. That led to eight power plays for Minnesota and six for Kenai with each team converting twice.
Up Next:
Minnesota will bring its first 3-game winning streak of the season to Anchorage. The Wilderness and Wolverines will meet in a 2-game series beginning Nov. 8.
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North American Hockey League Stories from November 3, 2024
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