The Wisconsin Windigo’s nine game road trip continued this past weekend as they traveled to Chippewa Falls, WI, to take on Midwest Division rival Chippewa Steel. Chippewa entered the weekend with a record of 11 wins and 7 losses. While the Windigo carried a record of 6 wins, 11 losses and 1 overtime loss going into last weekend’s competition.
Friday, November 4: Wisconsin Windigo 3 at Chippewa Steel 4 After trading scoring chances in the opening frame, Chippewa struck first 6 minutes into the first period. The balance of the period was relatively evenly matched with Chippewa outshooting the Windigo 14 to 11. Chippewa dominated the play in the second period, peppering Windigo goalie Max Beckford with 18 shots while the Windigo managed only 5 shots of their own. Chippewa increased their lead with a goal at the 16:36 mark of the second period. Everett Pietila scored his first goal as a Windigo with two minutes left in the period to bring his team to within one. The third period saw Chippewa increase their lead to 3-1 but Zach Burfoot responded at 12:42 with his third goal of the season to bring the Windigo back to a one goal deficit. An untimely penalty for the Windigo resulted in Chippewa increasing their lead to 4-2 on a power play goal with 3 minutes left in the game. The Windigo pulled Beckford in favor of a sixth attacker. Victor Widlund tipped a shot from Will Schumacher to again bring the Windigo within one goal with just over a minute remaining. The Windigo failed to tie the game in the last minute of play despite pulling the goalie again and their comeback fell short. “Max Beckford kept us in the game during the second period in which we were outplayed, he gave us a chance to win,” commented Windigo head coach Blake Hietala. “I was pleased to see our team generate more offense in the third period, but we need to play a full 60 minutes to win games in this league,” continued Hietala. Beckford stopped 42 of the 46 shots he faced in the contest.
Saturday, November 5: Wisconsin Windigo 6 at Chippewa Steel 3 – The Windigo picked up where they left off in the third period the night before. The Windigo opened the game with a barrage of three goals in just under 12 minutes. Tyler Grahme (assisted by Zach Cline and Mario DiMaggio) opened the floodgates just 2:37 into the game. Will Schumacher (from Luke Levandowski and Cole Mickel) scored his sixth goal of the season at the 8:23 mark of the first period. Levandowski (from DiMaggio and Victor Widlund) scored one of his own a few minutes later to put the Windigo up 3-0. Chippewa scored late in the period to cut the Windigo lead to 3 to 1 at the close of the first period. Chippewa scored a rare shorthanded goal 4 minutes into the second period, but the Windigo responded with another goal by Levandowski (from Schumacher and Mickel). Paul Huglen closed the second period with this third goal of the season to put the Windigo up 5-2. The Steel poured on the steam in the third period outshooting the Windigo 14 to 6. But, once again, Windigo goalie Max Beckford was up to the task and kept the Steel at bay until 17 minutes into the period when they scored to bring the score to 5-3 in favor of the Windigo. This prompted the Steel to pull their goalie to apply further pressure on the Windigo netminder. Cam Boche scored his fourth goal of a season with an empty netter when he used his speed to beat the Steel to the puck and buried the clearing attempt by Levandowski into an empty net. “I was pleased with our energy and confidence tonight. We showed the offensive talent with have on this team,” noted coach Hietala after the game. “We can score in bunches, but we need to apply a more consistent effort game in and game out. Beckford was solid in net and bailed us out in the third when we seemed to lapse a little,” continued Hietala. Windigo goalie Max Beckford recorded 35 saves on 38 shots for his sixth win of the season.
Up Next: November 11 – 12 at the Janesville Jets The road trip continues for the Windigo as they head to Janesville, WI, to face the Janesville Jets on November 11 and 12. Janesville is leading the Midwest Division with a record of 11 wins, 5 losses and 2 overtime losses; hence, they will be a formidable opponent of the Windigo.