The Minnesota Magicians (29-20-5) made a major statement over the weekend, sweeping the Midwest Division Leading Janesville Jets (38-10-4) at Richfield Ice Arena to inch ever closer to clinching a playoff spot. The star of the weekend was Magicians goaltender Ivan Prosvetov, who surrendered only two goals to one of the best offensive units in the league. His 82 saves over the weekend displayed why he is attracting a large amount of attention heading into the upcoming NHL Draft in June.
On Friday night, the Magicians got the scoring started when Andrew Kangas (Assists: Caleb Hite, Travis Brown) got his 6th goal of the season. In the second, the Magicians lead was increased to 2-0 when Nikita Kozyrev (Will Hammer, Tanner Tweten) found the back of the net midway through the period. The Jets answered with a goal of their own in the third, but Prosvetov was unbeatable the rest of the way as the Magicians walked away with a 2-1 victory. Prosvetov made 29 saves in the win.
On Saturday, Janesville got on the board first in the 2nd period after a scoreless opening frame. The Magicians answered a short time later when Tanner Tweten (Brendan Skarda, Davis Kirkendall) got his 12th goal of the season to make it 1-1 heading into the final period of regulation. Despite high-quality scoring chances for both teams, the third period was scoreless as well and the game went to a 3 vs. 3 overtime session to try and determine a winner. When the five minute overtime failed to yield a winner, the game progressed to a shootout, where the Magicians emerged victorious after goals from Tanner Tweten and Travis Brown. Ivan Prosvetov again backstopped the Magicians in the win, making a remarkable 53 saves out of 54 shots on goal.
This week, the Magicians will hit the road to play the Springfield Junior Blues in Springfield, Illinois. The following week, the Magicians will wrap up their regular-season home schedule with a series against the Aberdeen Wings at Richfield Ice Arena on March 31st and April 1st. As always, Magicians tickets and information is available at www.wisconsinjuniorhockey.com!