Wilderness Edge Bruins in the Iron Range
December 6, 2013 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Austin Bruins News Release
In early November, the Austin Bruins (17-8-1) struggled to solve Kasimir Kaskisuo (Vantaa, Finland) and the stingy defense of the Minnesota Wilderness (17-4-4) in a 3-0 shutout loss. Friday night, the Bruins had their chances, but fell just short in a 3-2 loss at the Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet.
The Bruins scored the first goal just over a minute into the game when Brennan Sanford (Holt, MI) threw a puck to the net from the corner that deflected off of a skate and past Kaskisuo. Less than a minute later, after an Austin penalty, the Wilderness tied the game when Michael Covach (Shillington, PA) cleaned up a rebound in front of Bruins goaltender Nick Lehr (Roseville, MN) at 1:59 of the period. Although both teams had several additional scoring chances, the score remained 1-1 at the first intermission.
The Wilderness came out of the break and dominated the first half of the first period, but couldn t beat Lehr who was forced to make several key saves. The Bruins first shot of the period didn t come until the 11-minute mark, but Austin was able to create a few flurries in front of Kaskisuo late in the frame. The score, however, remained 1-1 after two periods.
Thomas Lindstrom (Brooklyn Park, MN) gave the Wilderness their first lead, after using his speed to get behind the Bruins defense, then sliding the puck past Lehr to make it 2-1. Easton Viitala (Marquette, MI) won a battle in front of the Wilderness crease minutes later and snuck a shot past Kaskisuo to tie the game at two. But a shot by Billy Exell (Thunder Bay, ON) from the left-wing boards beat Lehr under the blocker for the go-ahead goal and eventual game-winner for the Wilderness.
Lehr made 37 saves in the loss, while Kaskisuo stopped 23 shots in the win, in a battle of the top two goaltenders in the league for the month of November.
The Wilderness visits Austin for the first time Saturday in the rematch at 7:05pm. It s Staples Sign Night at Riverside Arena and gates open at 6pm. The game will also be shown on fasthockey.com and aired on 1480AM KAUS.
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