Wilderness Split 1st 2 Games of Showcase
Published on September 25, 2025 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Minnesota Wilderness News Release
The Minnesota Wilderness continue to look strong as they close out their September portion of the 2025-26 schedule. A pair of gritty efforts in the first two days of the NAHL Showcase, the Wilderness have a 4-1-1 record with one day left at the tournament in Blaine, MN.
The Wilderness were victorious in day 1, Wednesday, defeating the Minnesota Mallards 3-1. That was followed by a 4-3 loss to the Lone Star Brahmas in day 2, Thursday. The Wilderness get a day off Friday before completing their Showcase schedule Saturday vs. the Austin Bruins. Game time for the finale at the Super Rink is set for 3:45 p.m.
Wednesday: Wilderness 3, Mallards 1
The Showcase opener saw the Wilderness face an aggressive Mallard squad that came out firing on all cylinders in the opening, with a number of shots testing goaltender Valdemar Andersen. However the Wilderness managed to open the scoring thank to Lucas Ryen converting on a 2-on-1 break out 4:01 into the first period. Niko Gentilini assisted on Ryen's team-leading fourth of the season.
The Mallards tied the game 5:47 into the second when Keanan Pearman lit the lamp, and then had a pair of power play opportunities late in the period that gave them a chance to take the lead. The Mallards had a 5-on-3 for 42 seconds that started late in the second and carried into the third, but could not break the Wilderness PK.
The Wilderness then carried the momentum of its penalty kill to take the lead for good after Zach Homer at the 2:07 mark of the final frame. Caleb Kim would later add an insurance tally with 9:08 left to cap off the scoring. It was the third goals of the season for both Homer and Kim, with Bryce Dahl generating an assist for Homer, and Ryen helping set up Kim.
The Wilderness outshot the Mallards, 30-29, with Andersen coming through with 28 saves to stay unbeaten at 4-0.
Mallards goaltender Hunter Bauer made 27 saves in the loss.
Both teams were scoreless on the power play with the Wilderness finishing 0-for-2 and Mallards going 0-for-4.
Thursday: Lone Star 4, Wilderness 3
Despite coming from behind twice to tie, the Minnesota Wilderness fell in regulation for the first time this season to a franchise that has reached the finals in the Robertson Cup playoffs for the last two seasons.
The game opened with the Brahmas taking a 2-0 lead thanks to goals 26 seconds apart by Tyson Scanlon and Vincenzo Capano, at the 6:01 and 6:27 marks of the opening period. The Brahmas then had a power play late in the frame, but instead of expanding their lead to 3-0, the Wilderness cut their advantage in half, thanks to a short-handed marker from Zach Homer with 9:54 remaining in period 1. Noah Dziver helped set up Homer, which was his 4 th of the season, and the team's third on the penalty-kill in just its sixth game.
The Wilderness then evened the score thanks River Freeman coming through with his first of the campaign with 1:22 left in the first frame.
The Brahmas bounced back to regain the lead at 3-2 after Samuel Lussier scored 4:55 into the second, but the Wilderness answered again before the period was over with a power play goal from Avery Anderson with 7:42 left.
Lone Star then went ahead to stay in the third period when Jackson Vaites scored on an end-to-end rush on the power play at the 4:04 mark.
The Wilderness outshot the Brahmas, 26-22, with Nicolas Rempel getting the win in net for Lone Star. Rempel entered the game at the beginning of the 2nd period in relief of starting netminder Wesley Jefferson-Swint. Rempel stopped 11 of 12 Wilderness shots, while Jefferson-Swint made 12 saves on 14 shots.
Meanwhile, Minnesota rode rookie Nathan Mach in net from start to finish. Mach finished his first start of the season making 18 saves on 22 shots.
Both teams struck once on the power play, with the Wilderness getting three opportunities compared to two for Lone Star.
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