Returning home after a 4-game road trip, the Windigo faced the Midwest Division leading Minnesota Wilderness in a two game series at the historic Dome in Eagle River. The Windigo entered the weekend with a 12-8-3-1 (wins-losses-overtime losses-shootout loses) record, good for second place in the Midwest Division. The Wilderness carried a 16-8-2-1 record into the series. The games featured a benefit for the Warm the Children fund in conjunction with the Vilas County News-Review and the Eagle River Rotary Club Foundation. A total of $2,191 was raised to provide winter jackets, mittens, hats and other winter apparel for deserving local children.
Friday, December 1: Wilderness 0 at Windigo 3: First period action saw both teams seeking an opening to get on the scoreboard first. Excellent goaltending prevailed, with Windigo starting goalie Max Beckford turning away 10 shots and Wilderness netminder, Adam Prokop, stopping 8 Windigo shots on net. Elliot Gulley broke the deadlock midway through the second period. After receiving a long outlet pass from Sam Groebner deep in his zone, Luke Baker found Max Martin streaking down the right side. Martin found Gulley sweeping left to right thru the slot and put the puck on Gulley’s tape. Gulley made a forehand to backhand move to freeze Prokop before flipping a backhander into the net. With just over two minutes remaining in the middle frame, Groebner carried the puck into the offensive zone, drawing 2 defenders with him. Groebner dropped the puck to Adam Timm just inside the blue line and Timm found Logan Nickolaus skating into the slot. In a repeat of Gulley’s goal, Nickolaus went forehand to backhand before lifting the puck over Prokop’s outstretched glove hand. Six minutes into the third period, the Wilderness took a 5 minute major penalty for fighting. Windigo defenseman Erick Comstock received a pass along the offensive blue line from Will Schumacher. Comstock drifted into the slot before releasing a wrist shot high to the blocker side to close out the scoring. Beckford had 23 saves enroute to a shutout victory. The Windigo placed 26 shots on net.
Saturday, December 2: Wilderness 3 at Windigo 4 (Shootout): Saturday’s rematch was all Wilderness for the first period and a half, as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead. With just over two minutes remaining in the middle frame, Will Schumacher took control of the puck in the offensive zone and found Sam Groebner at the face off dot on the far right to the Wilderness netminder. Groebner spotted Elliot Gulley all alone to the goalie’s left and executed a perfect pass for Gulley to redirect into the net. With 7:17 left in the third period, Windigo forward Jacob Jastrzebski picked up a loose puck just inside the blueline. He released a wrist shot that the Wilderness goalie seemed to lose sight of and went over his catching glove into the top far side of the net. With 11 seconds remaining and an offensive zone faceoff, the Windigo pulled their goalie in favor of a sixth attacker. Tyler Grahme won the draw and Everett Pietila picked up the puck and fed it to Erick Comstock on the blueline. Comstock fired the puck on net. From his knees Windigo forward Braydon Beahm put the rebound back on net. Beahm’s shot dribbled behind the netminder, where Pietila tucked the loose puck into the net with just 5 seconds remaining. After a scoreless 3 on 3 sudden death overtime period, the game would be decided in a shootout. Schumacher scored on the Windigo’s second shootout attempt, to put the pressure on the Wilderness to keep the their chances alive. Max Beckford was up to the task and stopped all three shootout attempts by the Wilderness. Beckford had 19 saves for the win in net for the Windigo. Loris Uberti had 33 saves in the loss for the Wilderness.
Coach’s Comments: Windigo head coach Blake Hietala had the following thoughts after the weekend series: “I like our team’s focus and resilience this weekend. After our debacle last Saturday, we challenged the guys to be ready to play from the opening faceoff. We lost to the Wilderness in regulation and then in a shootout in their home barn a couple of weeks ago. We were hoping to return the favor here, at home. Four points this weekend are huge. It was great to see a young player like Elliot Gulley pick up key goals both nights. Gulley has come a long way this season and we look for him to continue to improve. Our top guys like Martin, Grahme, Schumacher, and Comstock, draw more and more attention from the opposition each week. It’s great to have others like Jastrzebski, Nickolaus, Pietila, and Gulley, contribute the way they did this weekend. Beckford was huge in net for us. The shutout on Friday highlighted our team defense. He shut them down completely in the shootout on Saturday. That’s difficult to do against a talented group like the Wilderness.”