Wilderness Knocking on Playoffs' Door After Sweep of Steel
April 2, 2025 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Minnesota Wilderness News Release
The Minnesota Wilderness are now within striking distance of the Midwest Division's final playoff spot. Minnesota completed its first sweep of the season against the Chippewa Steel in a home-and-home series this weekend. A pair of 4-3 victories, Friday in Cloquet and Saturday in Chippewa Falls, WI, has moved Minnesota to two points behind the Steel for 4th place in the Midwest Division standings.
The division's top four teams qualify for the NAHL's Robertson Cup playoffs.
The Wilderness (27-24-4) have the benefit of playing their final four games of the 2024-25 regular season schedule at home, while Chippewa (28-22-4) travels to Alaska for its final five contests. Minnesota must gain three more points than the Steel before the end of the regular season, and stay ahead of the 6th place Springfield Jr. Blues to qualify for the post-season. Springfield is only one point behind Minnesota and three points away from Chippewa.
The Wilderness entertain Janesville in their next two games, as the Jets and Minnesota are scheduled for a Thursday/Friday series beginning April 3 at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet. The Wilderness then host Springfield in a season-closing 2-game series on April 11 and 12.
Friday: Wilderness 4, Chippewa 3
Four different players lit the lamp for Minnesota and Nick Erickson kicked out 28 Chippewa shots in leading the Wilderness to their first regulation win of the season over the Steel.
Jakeb Lynch and Frantisek Netusil each had 3-point games to power the Wilderness offense. Lynch fired in one goal and added two assists while Netusil had three helpers.
Lynch and Netusil both contributed to the game-winning goal, which was scored by Lucas Jendek in the third period. Jendek deposited his 12th of the season to break a 3-3 tie at the 8:06 mark of the final frame.
Meanwhile, Erickson stymied the Steel attack in stopping all 11 shots he faced in the final period.
The lead changed three times before Minnesota fully took charge of the game. Chippewa opened the scoring on a tally by Lance Mengel with 7:48 left in the opening period. The Wilderness responded quickly as Noah Dziver tied the contest when he lit the lamp on the power play just over three minutes later. Lynch and River Freeman earned apples on Dziver's 17th of the campaign with 4:35 remaining.
Minnesota took its first lead of the game early in the 2nd period. Payton Struck fired in his 6 th goal of the season that was helped by Jendek and Netusil 2:02 into the middle frame.
The Steel then regained the advantage when Connor Jalbert and Hunter Whisenand posted markers just 1:11 apart to make the score 3-2. However, that lead was also short-lived, as Lynch converted on a 3-on-2 break that was aided by Netusil and Freeman. Lynch scored his 18th of the season on the backhand with 8:45 left in the 2nd.
Minnesota's penalty kill kept Chippewa scoreless on three chances, while its power play went 1-for-4.
Chippewa outshot Minnesota 31-21. Devin Shakar made 17 saves in a losing effort for the Steel.
Saturday: Wilderness 4, Chippewa 3
The Wilderness' grit and determination was on full display as the squad pulled off its biggest comeback of the season in the final game of the season series vs. the Steel. After falling behind 3-0, Minnesota scored four unanswered goals to complete the weekend sweep and post its first victory of the campaign in Chippewa Falls.
For the second straight game, Minnesota had strong goaltending, this time with Valdemar Andersen as the backstop. Andersen kept out 29 of 32 Chippewa shots.
Offensively, Ben Roulette and Logan Nagle each scored two goals, with Nagle posting the game-winner with 9:49 left in the third period. Roulette also added an assist for a 3-point game.
The Steel built its lead with first period red-lighters from Connor Jalbert (at 12:04) and Sam Schulte (at 13:10), and a second period marker from Patrick Vogl (at 4:25).
The Wilderness then came to life as Roulette notched both of his tallies on the same shift. The veteran from Rivers, Manitoba, scored his 10 th and 11 th of the season to narrow the Steel lead to 3-2.
Roulette's first goal was backhanded in on a rebound of a shot from Nate Murray with 6:22 left in the middle frame, with River Freeman also earning an assist.
His second goal came off a turnover at the Wilderness blue line. Roulette cut off a pass from Chippewa's Zach Sondreal and, after skating into the Steel zone, whipped a shot from the left circle that went into the net's top right corner with 6 minutes remaining.
Nagle then deposited the equalizer 30 seconds into the final period with his eighth of the campaign before his 9th gave Minnesota the lead for good at the 10:11 mark.
It marked a triumphant return for Nagle, who missed his last four contests due to injury.
Nagle's first goal was assisted by Noah Dziver and Roulette. Dziver gained possession after Roulette sent the puck into the Chippewa zone by banking it in off the glass. Then, from the right corner, Dziver fed the puck to Nagle who was positioned in front of the Steel net where he beat Chippewa goaltender Devin Shakar on the glove side.
Dziver then gained another assist on Nagle's second goal. Shakar denied a Dziver shot from the bottom of the right circle, Dziver then collected the rebound and found Nagle in front of a wide-open net with Shakar out of position, allowing Nagle to easily fire in the go-ahead tally.
Chippewa again finished with the advantage in shots in a losing effort, this time with a 33-25 count. Shakar suffered his second straight defeat in net with a 21-save effort.
Saturday was a quiet for the officials, who whistled a combined total of 14 minutes in penalties, compared to Friday night, when the two squads compiled 82 minutes of infractions.
On the power play, Minnesota went 0-for-1, while Chippewa went 1-for-2.
North American Hockey League Stories from April 2, 2025
- Wilderness Seek to Continue Push for Playoffs vs. Jets - Minnesota Wilderness
- The Last Matchup Between the Wolverines and Brown Bears - Anchorage Wolverines
- Wilderness Knocking on Playoffs' Door After Sweep of Steel - Minnesota Wilderness
- IceRays and Mudbugs Clash in Shreveport to Decide 2nd Place - Corpus Christi IceRays
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