The Minnesota Magicians were back in North American Hockey League (NAHL) action at Richfield Ice Arena on Sunday, October 20th in a battle against the Coulee Region Chill. The matchup was the first of 12 meetings between the teams this season.
The first frame from Richfield was entertaining from the start, as the Magicians outshot the Chill 14-7 in a frenetically paced first period. Despite the Minnesota edge in shots, however, the opening frame ended in a scoreless tie. The game would open up in the second period as the Magicians poured on continuous pressure throughout the remainder of the game. Sam Wolfe got the scoring started after a beautiful set-up from Derick Kuchera on the power play. The Chill answered quickly with a goal from Jesse Treddinick, knotting the score at 1-1. A short time later, Minnesota regained the lead with a tally from Nick Kuchera. From there, it was all Magicians as Patrick Pollock and Colin Hernon set-up Will Johnson to make the score 3-1 in favor of Minnesota going into the third period. In the final stanza it was Nick Uglem setting up Jordan Stejskal for his first ever NAHL goal in his 59th career game. Minnesota wasn’t stopping there, however, as Matt Colford found the twine late in the third to make the route official at 5-1; Joe Kleven was credited with the lone assist on the Colford goal.
All told, the Magicians finished with 37 shots on net, while the Chill were only able to put 27 shots on Magicians goaltender Atte Tolvanen. With the 5-1 victory, the Magicians improved to 6-4-1 on the season. The Magicians will battle Mid-West Division leading Fairbanks next Saturday October 26th at 7:05 PM at Richfield Ice Arena. For ticket information, log onto MagiciansHockey.com. For live play by, play log onto FastHockey.com.