Weekly Update: Eagle River, WI, March 11, 2024.
Photo: Ceremonial faceoff- Jared Adamovich & Lindsey Riedel of the Berklee Strong Fund with Max Martin of the Wisconsin Windigo and Ethan Begg of the Janesville Jets.
Weekend Recap: The Windigo returned home for two games with the Janesville Jets. The Jets have been climbing in the standings, entering the weekend in third place in the Midwest Division. The Windigo, while leading the division, needed to keep pace with the hard charging Anchorage Wolverines who have climbed into second place in the standings, with 3 games in hand over the Windigo. The series featured our annual “Stick-it-to Cancer” fundraiser, with the beneficiary this year being the Berklee Strong Fund.
Friday, March 8: Jets 2 at Windigo 5: Max Martin opened the scoring early in the first period with a power play goal. Martin batted in a rebound off the stick of Erick Comstock. Eight minutes into the second period, Zach Cline made it 2-0 in favor of the Windigo. Luke Baker stripped a Jets player of the puck in the neutral zone and passed the puck to Logan Nickolaus. Nickolaus carried the puck into the offensive zone and placed a shot on net. Cline jumped on the rebound laying in the crease. Two minutes later, Erick Comstock carried the puck towards Janesville’s net and found Jacob Jastrzebski in front of the net for a tap in goal. The Jets scored twice prior to the end of the second period to come within 1 goal of the Windigo. The Windigo took advantage of a power play opportunity 3 minutes into the third period. Will Schumacher found Martin alone at the top of the crease and Martin scored his league leading 38th goal of the season to put the Windigo up 4-2. With just under 2 minutes to go in the final frame, the Jets pulled their goalie in favor of an extra attacker. Quinn Disher took advantage of the empty net to seal the victory for the Windigo. Max Beckford saved 27 of 29 shots to earn the victory in net for the Windigo. Matthew Alberti had 24 saves for the Jets.
Saturday, March 9: Jets 2 at Windigo 3: The Jets came out flying in the first period, outshooting the Windigo 11 to 7 and scored a power play goal 6:44 into the game. Lucas Busch registered his first career NAHL goal to tie the game near the end of the opening frame. Busch received a drop pass from Quinn Disher in the neutral zone. Busch carried the puck across the blue line and released a shot from the mid-slot that found its way between 2 defenders and just under the goalie’s blocker. The Windigo came out strong in the second period, outshooting the Jets 11-6, but the Jets regained the lead 14 minutes into the middle frame. While on a power play, a Windigo defenseman turned over the puck on the offensive blue line. The Jets’ Max Wagener pounced on the opportunity to score shorthanded on a breakaway. Jacob Jastrzebski tied it up with a power play goal 50 seconds later. After a give and go with Jastrzebski, Erick Comstock passed the puck to Will Schumacher at the top of the left faceoff circle. Schumacher fed it back to Jastrzebski standing on the dot of the opposite faceoff circle. Jastrzebski’s one-timer found its mark to the near side. The Jastrzebski show continued a few minutes later. While on another power play, Will Schumacher passed the puck to Max Martin who was deep in the corner. Martin circled around, looking for an opening. Martin spotted Jastrzebski to the side of the net and dished the puck to him. Jastrzebski spun around and deposited the puck thru the goalie’s legs into the back of the net, putting the Windigo up 3-2. Jastrzebski’s goal was the Windigo’s 67th power play goal of the season, 14 more than the next best power play team in the league. A tight checking third period saw the Windigo holding Janesville to only two shots on net. Linards Lipskis earned his 19th win of the season on 17 saves. The Windigo totaled 24 shots on net.
Coach’s Comments: Windigo head coach Blake Hietala shared the following after the game on Saturday: “I was disappointed with our performance Thursday in Chippewa. Our body language was horrible. We seemed to lose our swagger. Their goalie played well and got help from the post. We need to find ways to score when we’re not playing our best. Beckford was sharp in net. Anytime you give up only 1 goal, you’ve got to find a way to win that game. The sweep over Janesville was exactly what we needed. Anchorage has games in hand and a relatively easy schedule to close out the season. We need sweeps to maintain first place in the division. Our power play was clicking again this weekend. It was nice to see Lucas Busch pick up his first goal with us. He’s a welcome addition to the team, after concluding his high season in Maple Grove (MN). It was great to have DeKay back after he was injured a couple of months ago. We lost a couple of other guys to injuries on Thursday. We hope to have them back in the lineup soon. We need to get everyone healthy and ready for a strong push in the playoffs.”
Up Next: The Windigo hit the road this coming weekend to face the Jets in Janesville, WI. The Windigo return home to the Dome on March 22 and 23 to host the Springfield Jr. Blues. Both of those games will start at 7pm. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $15 for the reserved access section. Visit www.wisconsinjuniorhockey.com/tickets.