Home Stand Ends with Split vs. Jets
Published on November 3, 2025 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Minnesota Wilderness News Release
A 6-game home stand that ended the month of October and began November for the Minnesota Wilderness closed Saturday night with the split of a 2-game weekend series vs. the Janesville Jets.
The Jets were victorious Friday, 3-2, but Minnesota bounced back to snap a 3-game winless streak Saturday with a 4-2 win.
It was an historic weekend for two Wilderness forwards. Noah Dziver and Talan Blanck each extended point streaks that have stretched to double-digit games. On Friday, Dziver managed to break a franchise record with a point in his 12th straight game and further extended it Saturday to 13 games. Blanck also picked up points in both contests to extend his point streak to 12.
The Wilderness (13-3-2) next go on the road for a 2-game series at the Wisconsin Windigo Nov. 7-8. Both games will be played at the Ponds of Brookfield in Brookfield, WI, with puck drop both nights set for 7:35 p.m.
Friday: Janesville 3, Wilderness 2
A controversial buzzer beater goal with less than a second left in regulation lifted the Jets to victory in the series opener.
During a goalmouth scramble, Mason Minsky fired the puck over a sprawling Valdemar Andersen to give the Jets a 3-2 lead with 8/10 th of a second left in the third period. Moments before the goal, Andersen jarred the net off its support pegs, but it wasn't enough to keep the officials from disallowing the goal. A subsequent video replay of the call upheld the call on the ice
Zach Homer and Noah Dziver notched single goals for Minnesota in the loss.
Homer's goal came on the power play in the first period with 7:11 remaining. Nate Murray and Talan Blanck assisted with some sharp passing that resulted in Murray, at the left circle, finding Homer positioned near the right post of the Janesville net. Homer had an easy tap-in for his 10 th red-lighter of the season that gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead.
Dziver's tally set a new Wilderness record. His goal with 9:01 left in the third frame extended a point streak to 12 - and set a new franchise mark for consecutive games with at least one point. The original record of 11 games was set by Bram Scheerer during the 2019-20 season.
Murray and Blanck also assisted on Dziver's goal, which was his 12th of the season and tied the game at 2.
Janesville's other goals came from Grant Dillard and Murray Marvin-Cordes.
The Jets outshot the Wilderness 29-27. In goal, Andersen suffered his first regulation loss of the season making 26 saves.
Prater earned the win with 25 saves.
On the power play, each team had five chances, with Janesville striking twice and the Wilderness getting one goal.
Saturday: Wilderness 4, Janesville 2
The Wilderness built a 4-0 lead through the opening minutes of the second period Saturday and held on to preserve the victory thanks to splendid goaltending from Ryan Gerlich.
Janesville outshot Minnesota, 36-24, with 15 shots coming in the first period and 14 in the third. Gerlich shutout the Jets in the opening frame and allowed only one goal in the third period.
Meanwhile, Minnesota built its lead with a Zach Homer goal in the first period when he converted on the power play with 6:54 left.
That was followed by three goals scored over 3:29 early in the 2 nd period.
The flurry started when Nate Murray converted on a pass from Noah Dziver to score his fourth of the season at the 1:52 mark.
While on the power play, Andrei Gudin made it 3-0 with his third of the season on an impressive individual effort. The rookie notched his third goal of the season after skating around the entire offensive zone before whipping a shot from the right circle that beat goaltender Christopher Prater on the glove side.
Homer added his second of the game and 12 th of the campaign at 5:21 when skated into the offensive zone, around a defender, and across the front of the net before tossing in the puck over the goaltender's glove to give the Wilderness a 4-0 lead.
Dziver and Blanck posted two assists. River Freeman, Jackson Knight and Bryce Dahl added single helpers.
Janesville switched goaltenders after falling behind by four. Prater was replaced by Roman Batih after making 9 saves on 13 shots over 25:21. Batih, making his first appearance of the season for the Jets, denied all 11 shots he faced over 32:39.
The Jets (9-7) scored two power play goals to cut Minnesota' s lead to two. Joseph Hyten made it 4-1 with 8:36 left in the second, followed by Ty Bashaw scoring on a 2-man advantage at the 6:50 mark of the third period.
Minnesota went 2-for-4 on the power play while the Jets went 2-for-3.
North American Hockey League Stories from November 3, 2025
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