Wilderness Add One More Point in Final Regular Season Weekend
Published on April 13, 2026 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Minnesota Wilderness News Release
The Minnesota Wilderness tacked on one last regular season point to its franchise record total this weekend in a road series vs. the Janesville Jets. In its final game on the docket, the Wilderness forced overtime and eventually fell in a shootout 3-2. This followed Friday night's game where the Jets secured an 8-3 victory.
By finishing tied in regulation Saturday, the Wilderness completed its regular season with 89 points (42-12-5).
In addition, Minnesota, who clinched the Midwest Division title in mid-March, learned who it will meet in its first-round playoff series. The Anchorage Wolverines have claimed the number four seed in the Midwest Division and will be in Proctor to take on the number one seed Wilderness for at least the first two games of the Midwest Division semi-final the weekend of April 17-18.
A complete playoff schedule will be released later this week. All post-season Wilderness home contests will be played at the Aspirus St. Luke's Sports and Events Center in Proctor.
Friday: Janesville 8, Wilderness 3
Janesville dominated the first period, jumping out to 3-0 lead and adding two more in the second before the Wilderness found the back of the net. Brody Olson, Jonathan Lyskawa and Hans Hedlund scored in the opening frame for the Jets, while Murray Marvin-Cordes and Brieg Hazelwood struck in the middle period.
Avery Anderson finally got the Wilderness on the board with a power play goal with 7:26 left in the second period. Talan Blanck fed the puck to Anderson at the bottom of the right circle, and Anderson sent it past goaltender Kaenen Smith for his 14th goal of the season and 40th point.
Janesville rebuilt its 5-goal lead thanks to a tally from Grant Dillard just over a minute later.
The Wilderness were climbing back into the contest thanks to third period markers from Caleb Kim and Talan Blanck. Kim made the score 6-2 thanks to nifty stickhandling that allowed him to skate around a defender and fire in his 18 th of the campaign at the 2:53 mark.
Minutes later, Kim helped Blanck post his 29 th of the season on the power play with 12:12 left.
Minnesota, however, would not light the lamp again as the Jets added two empty net goals, from Mason Minsky and Nathan Tobey, to complete the scoring.
The Wilderness finished 2-for-7 on the power play while Janesville went 1-for-5.
Minnesota outshot the Jets, 30-27, in a game which snapped a franchise record 9-game road winning streak.
Valdemar Andersen took the loss making 19 saves on 25 shots. Smith was the winning goaltender with 27 saves.
Saturday: Janesville 3, Wilderness 2 (SO)
For the second straight night, the Wilderness fell behind to the Jets, but this time managed to gain at least a point in the contest.
After Sean Truby and Joseph Hyten put the Jets on top 2-0 in the second period, Minnesota pounced with two early in the third period to tie.
Max Edwards put the Wilderness on the board with his third of the season 1:04 into the final period. While on the power play, the Wilderness exited their defensive zone with an outlet pass from Landon Cottingham that was scooped up by Anthony Cappello at center ice. Cappello then caught Edwards behind the Janesville defense and he skated in through the middle of the ice and beat goaltender Kaenen Smith to cut the Jets lead to 2-1.
Moments later, Cottingham helped on the equalizer.
At center ice Cottingham cut off a Janesville clearing attempt and skated across the Jets blue line on the right side. Then, as he was receiving a check that knocked him on the ice, Cottingham one-handed the puck to Andrei Gudin. Gudin then skated to the slot and fired a wrist shot that lit the lamp at the 4:48 mark of the final frame.
The two squads then remained tied through regulation and a 5-minute overtime. In the shootout, Minnesota failed to score in round 1 on an attempt by Adel Ahkmadeev, while Janesville took the shootout lead on a goal by Joseph Hyten. Robinson Djian then tied the shootout in the second round when he scored on a backhand, but Janesville took the lead back when Grant Dillard sent the puck past Wilderness goaltender Ryan Gerlich. In round 3, Smith denied an attempt by Cayden Neice, and the Jets were victorious.
Janesville (28-30-1) outshot the Wilderness, 27-24. Gerlich finished with 25 saves in the shootout loss, while Smith stopped 22 Minnesota shots to gain the victory.
On the power play, Minnesota went 1-for-4 while the Jets finished 0-for-6.
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