Wilderness Go Undefeated in Alaska After Sweep of Anchorage
Published on October 13, 2025 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Minnesota Wilderness News Release
The Minnesota Wilderness maintained their hot start to the 2025-26 season this weekend with a road sweep of the Anchorage Wolverines.
The victories in the Thursday - Saturday (Oct. 9-11) series marked the first Wilderness sweep of a 3-game set away from home since it beat Kenai River March 17-19, 2022. After the 2-game sweep of Kenai last weekend, it also ensured a perfect 5-0 record for the squad's first Alaska trip of this campaign.
By beating Anchorage this past weekend, the Wilderness (10-1-1) generated 19 goals and extended their overall winning streak to six games.
Offensively, Noah Dziver led the way with seven points, with 4 goals and 3 assists and extended his point streak to seven games.
In goal, Ryan Gerlich was victorious in Thursday's opener while Valdemar Andersen triumphed Friday and Saturday.
Minnesota's penalty kill also played a huge part, as Anchorage (3-6-1) was held scoreless on 18 power play opportunities.
The Wilderness next return to Cloquet to begin a 6-game home stand this weekend. It begins with a 2-game series vs. the Chippewa Steel on Oct. 17-18.
Thursday: Wilderness 9, Anchorage 2
The Wilderness unleashed an offensive barrage in the series opener that included a franchise record six goals in the 2nd period.
Noah Dziver and Zach Homer led Minnesota with two goals each. Homer added two assists for a 4-point game. Olle Karlsson also finished with four points by generating four assists. Additional Wilderness players with multi-point games were River Freeman (3 assists), Jakeb Lynch (2 assists), Logan Nagle, Jackson Reeves and Talan Blanck (each with 1 goal, 1 assist). Minnesota had single goals from Andrei Gudin and
Robinson Djian, while Isaac Suh, Bryce Dahl, Cayden Neice and Caleb Kim each posted single assists.
The offensive onslaught began in the middle frame. With Anchorage leading 1-0, Homer tied the game when he shoveled in a rebound to tie the score at 1-1 with 13:30 left.
With 4:59 left, the Wilderness opened the floodgates with the first of what would be five goals over a 3:24 span. Blanck, Nagle, Dziver, Homer and a 2 nd tally from Dziver helped Minnesota build a 6-1 lead that they took into the third period.
Goals from Djian, Gudin, and Reeves in the final frame completed the Wilderness scoring.
Minnesota's power play was a big contributor with three goals on seven chances. Anchorage went 1-for-6 with the extra man.
Rylan Bydal and Caleb Mahar recorded the Wolverines' 2 goals.
In goal, Minnesota's Ryan Gerlich improved his record to 2-0-1 with 19 saves on 21 Anchorage shots.
The Wolverines used two goaltenders: Liam Ernst started the game, going 40 minutes, stopping 18 on 24 shots. Andrew Saxe finished the contest, making 10 saves on 13 shots over 20 minutes.
Friday: Wilderness 4, Anchorage 3
Minnesota clinched the series victory thanks to four different players posting goals and Valdemar Andersen holding strong in his toughest test this season.
Andersen denied 35 Anchorage shots, including 19 in the third period. The Wolverines outshot the Wilderness, 38-31, for the game and 20-7 in the final frame.
The win improved Andersen's season record to 6-0-0.
He had help from Jackson Knight, Caleb Kim, Talan Blanck and Jackson Reeves, who lit the lamp to give Minnesota its fifth straight victory.
Jakeb Lynch and Landon Cottingham also contributed with two assists. Single helpers went to Lucas Ryen, Zach Homer, Robinson Djian and Noah Dziver.
Much like Thursday, the game began with the Wilderness trailing. Anchorage opened the scoring with a goal from Sam Evert with 10:38 left in the first period. However, unlike Thursday night, Minnesota did not wait until the second period to respond and take the lead. Less than 2 minutes later, Knight evened the score with 8:39 left and then Caleb Kim put the Wilderness ahead to stay with 1:14 remaining.
A power play tally from Blanck stretched Minnesota's lead to 3-1 with 12:27 left in the 2nd period, but the Wolverines cut the deficit back to 1 after Andrew Karkoc scored with 1:56 left.
The third period saw Reeves record what would end up being the game winner, just 16 seconds into the stanza.
While the Wolverines dominated in shots in the final period, they wouldn't get their third goal of the game until the final minute. Connor Jalbert lit the lamp with 35 seconds remaining as Anchorage netminder Andrew Saxe sat on the bench for an extra attacker.
Saxe took the loss stopping 27 of 31 Wilderness shots.
Each squad had six chances on the power play, with the Wilderness registering one goal, while Anchorage went scoreless.
Saturday: Wilderness 6, Anchorage 3
Another strong 2nd period propelled the Wilderness to victory Saturday and complete the 3-game sweep. Minnesota registered four goals in the middle frame, scoring twice at even strength, once on the power play and once short-handed.
Michael Liscinsky was the first to strike in the 2 nd stanza, as he broke a 1-1 tie with 13:57 left. Noah Dziver followed with two markers on special teams just 2:18 apart. Dziver made it 3-1 on the power play with 8:26 left and followed while on the penalty kill with 6:08 left to give Minnesota a 4-1 advantage. Zach Homer closed out the 2nd period scoring with a goal with 3:06 remaining to bring the visiting team's lead up to four.
However, Anchorage would not give up before the final buzzer. The Wolverines scored twice, once late in the 2nd, and another 5:26 into the third to cut the Minnesota lead to 5-3. Yet, it was the Wilderness who would close out the scoring, when Talan Blanck fired in an empty-net goal with 44 seconds remaining in regulation.
Another distinction in Saturday's game was for the first time in the series, the Wilderness scored first. Robinson Djian lit the lamp 31 seconds after the opening face-off to make the score 1-0. That lead, however, was short-lived, as Anchorage evened the score 2:02 later.
Offensively, Dziver led Minnesota with 3 points with two goals and one assist. Liscinsky and Blanck had two points with one goal and one assist, while Jakeb Lynch recorded two assists. While Homer and Djian earned single points by each posting one goal, Nate Murray and River Freeman gained a point with both generating an assist.
Anchorage's scoring came through two goals by A.J. Ulrich and one from Caleb Mahar.
Minnesota outshot the Wolverines, 30-29. Valdemar Andersen again earned the victory with 26 saves to improve his record to 8-0.
As they did Thursday, the Wolverines used two netminders. Andrew Saxe took the loss playing 40 minutes and making 15 saves on 20 shots. He was replaced by Liam Ernst at the beginning of the 3 rd period, who kept the Wilderness scoreless on five shots.
On the power play, the Wilderness finished 1-for-6, while Anchorage, for the third straight night, went 0-for-6.
North American Hockey League Stories from October 13, 2025
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- Wings Sweep Minotauros, and Braun Gets Shutout in Net Saturday Night - Aberdeen Wings
- Wilderness Go Undefeated in Alaska After Sweep of Anchorage - Minnesota Wilderness
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