Weekly Update: Eagle River, WI, February 26, 2024.
Weekend Recap: The seven game road trip continued to Springfield, IL. Going into the weekend, the Jr. Blues seemed to match up well against the Windigo, having won 3 of 4 games between the two teams this season. However, the lineups for both teams changed considerably since the last time they met on November 10-11. As the playoffs approach, every point matters. Going into the weekend, the Windigo held a 9 point edge in the Midwest Division standings over the Janesville Jets. Janesville’s weekend sweep and the one win for the Windigo reduced the Windigo lead to 7 points.
Friday, February 23: Windigo 4 at Jr. Blues 0 : Special team play was the difference in an otherwise relatively evenly played match. The Windigo’s league leading power play unit registered 2 goals, while their penalty killing unit was up to the task. Quinn Disher scored his 9th of the season with a power play goal just over 8 minutes into the contest. Jacob Jastrzebski made a nice play on the offensive blue line to block a clearing attempt. Jastrzebski fed the puck to Braydon Beahm deep in the zone. Beahm found Disher high in the slot from where he released a wrist shot that slipped past the Jr. Blues’ netminder. The Windigo struck again just 15 seconds later when Logan Nickolaus redirected a shot from the point off the stick of Jack Thomas. Jiri Duda picked up the second assist on the play, his first NAHL point in 11 games played. The Windigo jumped to a 3-0 lead when Tyler Grahme pounced on his own rebound to score 1:19 into the second period. Grahme’s goal was set up by a nifty move by Max Martin. Martin gained the offensive zone and eluded a defenseman by spinning in a circle then passed the puck to Grahme who was dropping into the low slot. Disher closed out the scoring 5 minutes into the third period with his second power play goal of the game. Once again Jastrebski and Beahm executed slick puck movement to set up Disher in the mid-slot. Reminiscent of his first period goal, Disher released a quick wrister that sailed just inside the post and into the back of the net. Linards Lipskis earned his 17th win, and league leading 6th shutout of the season, turning aside all 25 shots faced. The Windigo placed 25 shots on the Jr. Blues’ net.
Saturday, February 24: Windigo 4 at Jr. Blues 5: The second game of the weekend was more of a seesaw affair during which the Windigo seemed out of sync and a little sluggish for periods of time. Springfield took advantage of a power play and scored first, on a shot from the point that we re-directed over Linards Lipski’s shoulder to the top of the net. Everett Pietila evened the game with 5 minutes remaining in the opening frame when he slapped in a loose puck near the side of the crease. Springfield regained the lead off an odd man rush that resulted when a Windigo player missed a pinch on the offensive blueline. The opening frame closed 2-1 in favor of Springfield, but the Windigo carried the shot advantage 11-8. Tyler Grahme scored his 22nd goal of the year to tie the game at 2, just 5 minutes into the second period. Grahme’s power play goal was assisted by Max Martin and Will Schumacher. Two minutes later, Martin’s 35th goal of the season (assisted by Luke Baker and Jacob Jastrzebski) put the Windigo up 3-2. The Jr. Blues seemed to find a spark and scored 3 successive goals, 2 in the second period and 1 in the third, to jump out to a 5-3 lead. With time waning, Windigo head coach Blake Hietala pulled Lipskis for a 6th attacker. With just over a minute remaining, defenseman Erick Comstock recovered the puck in his zone and passed the puck up ice to Martin. Martin found Schumacher slicing thru the neutral zone. Schumacher gained the offensive zone and dropped the puck to Grahme as he entered the zone. Grahme deked left to right then released a shot over the goalie’s outstretched catching glove. The Windigo failed to score again with the extra skater in the final minute of play. Lipskis took the loss in net while making 24 saves. The Windigo placed a total of 35 shots on the Jr. Blues’ net.
Windigo Players Leading the League: Linards Lipskis earned his league leading 6th shutout on Friday. Max Martin maintained his status as the leader in total points in the NAHL, with 35 goals and 44 assists in 48 games played. Martin’s 35 goals leads the league in that category. Tyler Grahme maintained in 4th place in total points, with 23 goals and 36 assists. Everett Pietila slipped to 13th position in league points, with 12 goals and 38 assists. Will Schumacher is tied for second in goals scored in the league with 27 goals in 40 games played.
Coach’s Comments: Windigo head coach Blake Hietala offered the following thoughts after the weekend series: “I liked our effort on Friday. We took care of business and converted on a couple of power play opportunities. Disher gets better and better with each game. He has a knack for placing shots that hit small openings. Everyone was responsible defensively and Lipskis was sharp on the few scoring chances we did give up. Saturday was a different story. I was pleased by the way we jumped on some loose pucks, that resulted in guys like Pietila and Martin scoring. Grahme’s shot and goal with the extra attacker was fantastic. But we had long periods where we seemed to be doing too much watching and poking at pucks. We gave up too many odd man rushes and didn’t move our feet consistently. Every team in this division has talented players that can take advantage of mistakes. We made too many mistakes on Saturday to overcome.”
Up Next: The Windigo continue their seven-game road trip, heading next to Minnesota to take on the Wilderness on March 2-3. The road trip concludes in Chippewa Falls, WI, on March 7 with a single game against the Steel. The Windigo return home to the Dome on March 8-9 to face the Jets. That series will feature cancer awareness benefit for Berklee Strong. 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.