Weekend Recap: After splitting two games with the Kenai River Brown Bears in Soldotna, Alaska, the Windigo continued their 7 game road trip traveling up the Kenai Peninsula to Anchorage to take on the Anchorage Wolverines in a 3-game set. Going into the weekend the Windigo had a 7-6-1 record, while the Wolverines were 6-4-2 (Wins-Losses-OT losses).
Friday, October 27: Windigo 2 at Wolverines 3 (OT): The Wolverines took advantage of a power play to score first 9 minutes into the contest. Windigo forward Camden Markham tied the game five minutes later. Markham received a pass from Zach Cline and made a nifty move past the defender to create a shooting lane, then fired a shot past the Wolverine netminder for his first career NAHL goal. After a scoreless second period, Max Martin scored his 11th goal of the season five minutes into the third period to put the Windigo up 2-1. Martin stole the puck as a Wolverine defender was trying to exit his defensive zone, then fired a shot high to the glove side for his 11th goal of the season. An errant high stick found the Windigo on a 4-minute penalty kill late in the third period. Anchorage took advantage of the opportunity to tie the game with just under 3 minutes to go in regulation, sending the game into overtime. The Wolverines closed out their overtime victory on a breakaway goal 1:35 into overtime. Linards Lipskis took the loss in net stopping 29 shots. Marquette, Michigan, native Liam Beerman saved 33 of the 35 shots the Windigo placed on net to lead his team to victory.
Saturday, October 28: Windigo 4 at Wolverines 6: Game two of the series saw the Windigo jump out to a quick 2 goal lead just over 4 minutes into the game. Tyler Grahme lit the lamp first with a power play goal, assisted by Max Martin and Everett Pietila. Newly acquired Windigo defenseman Cashen Naeve (from Zach Burfoot and Martin) scored his first goal of the year with a seeing eye shot from the blue line the slipped thru the goalie’s legs. Anchorage answered with a goal 11:59 into the game. Will Schumacher scored his league leading 14th goal of the season to put the Windigo back up 3-1. His power play goal was assisted by Grahme and Erick Comstock. Defenseman Trent LeDrew (from Grahme and Schumacher) made it 4-1 in favor of the Windigo to close out the first period. From then on it was all Wolverines, who scored 5 unanswered goals, 2 in the second period and 3 in the third period. Undisciplined play resulted in several short-handed situations which resulted in the Windigo giving up 3 goals on the penalty kill. Anchorage sealed the victory with an empty net goal with just over 2 minutes left in the game. Martin’s 2 assists during the game increased his point total this season to 28 (11 goals and 17 assists), good for second best in total points in the entire league. Windigo netminder Logan Rose took the loss with 19 saves. The Windigo outshot Anchorage 34 to 24.
October 29: Windigo 3 at Wolverines 2: The Windigo struck first just over 4 minutes into the game when Zach Cline converted a nice pass from Cam Markham on a 2-on-1 rush. Jacob Jastrzebski picked up the second assist on Cline’s goal. Anchorage tied it up at 16:13, after pouncing on a turnover deep in the Windigo zone. Braydon Beahm (from Jastrzebski and Daniil Dolzhenko) scored off his own rebound on the power play with just 29 seconds left in the first period. The Wolverines tied it up at 2 midway thru the second frame. Jastrzebski put the Windigo up for good with a power play goal 15:40 into the third period. Luke Baker fed a cross ice pass to Zach Burfoot, who in turn found Jastrzebski planted just outside the crease. Windigo netminder Linards Lipskis picked the win in net for the Windigo, stopping 26 of the 28 shots he faced. The Windigo fired 33 shots on the Wolverine’s net.
Coach’s Comments: Windigo head coach Blake Hietala shared the following after the weekend series: “We played well enough to earn more than 3 points on the weekend, but we’ve got some things to clean up. I didn’t like several of the calls on the weekend, but we need to be more disciplined at the same time. Our penalty kill is struggling right now, so taking untimely penalties hurts. I like the way we’re playing 5 on 5, but we are still learning as a group how to close out games. Part of that is staying out of the box.”