Weekend Recap: With the regular season winding down and teams battling for the final playoff positions, every point in the standings is important. The Windigo entered the weekend leading the Midwest Division by 4 points over the Anchorage Wolverines. The Windigo opponent for the weekend, the Janesville Jets, were 10 points behind the Windigo in third place. However, the Wolverines have 3 more games, and the Jets have two more regular season games remaining than the Windigo. The weekend split with the Jets means that the Windigo maintained their 10 point advantage over the Jets. The Wolverines earned 3 points over the weekend with a win and overtime loss with the Minnesota Wilderness. Hence, the Windigo’s lead in the standings over the Wolverines dropped to 3 points.
Friday, March 15: Windigo 4 at Jets 0: Windigo forward Lucas Busch registered the only goal of the opening frame. Linemate Logan Nickolaus attempted to deke the Jets’ goaltender, Mathew Alberti. Alberti stopped Nickolaus’ shot but the rebound was available for Busch to put the Windigo up 1-0. Elliot Gulley picked up the second assist on Busch’s goal. Atter a scoreless second period, Max Martin scored two consecutive goals to put the Windigo up 3-0. Just under 2 minutes into the third period, Busch backhanded a pass to Martin dropping low to the far side of the net. Martin’s quick release found the back of the net for his league leading 39th goal of the season. While on the power play 5 minutes later, Martin found a loose puck at the top of the slot and unleased a slap shot that sailed past the outstretched arm of Alberti. With 2 minutes remaining, the Jets pulled their goalie in favor of an extra attacker. Windigo defenseman Jack Thomas recovered a loose puck in his zone and skated to his blueline. From there he released a shot that found the back of the net 120 feet away. Max Beckford earned his second shutout of the season in net, making 25 saves in the process. Alberti had 27 saves while suffering the loss in net for the Jets.
Saturday, March 16: Windigo 2 at Jets 3: The first period went scoreless, with the Jets outshooting the Windigo 13-12. The Jets opened the scoring at 12:28 of the second period converting on a 3-on-2 rush. Elliot Gulley tied it up for the Windigo with 4:26 remaining in the middle frame. Gulley won an offensive zone faceoff, drawing the puck back to defenseman Cashen Naeve. Naeve released a shot as Gulley crashed the net. Gulley deposited the rebound for his 6th goal of the season. Will Schumacher put the Windigo up 2-1 at 16:54 of the third period. While on a power play, Jacob Jastrzebski cycled the puck from the hash mark to Erick Comstock on the point. Comstock slide the puck to Schumacher as he dropped towards the top of the circle. Schumacher released a shot from the inside hash mark that sailed just inside the far post. An ill-timed tripping penalty found the Windigo shorthanded with just over two minutes to play. The Jets converted a one-timer to tie the game with 2:09 remaining. With 17 seconds on the clock, the Jets won a defensive zone faceoff and executed a quick transition. As the Jets entered the Windigo zone all 5 Windigo players were caught watching the puck carrier. The Jets found a wide open man to the right of Windigo netminder Linards Lipskis. The Jets’ goal with 7 seconds remaining completed their stunning comeback. Lipskis took the loss in net with 24 saves. The Windigo placed 38 shots on the Jets’ net.
Coach’s Comments: Windigo head coach Blake Hietala shared the following after the game on Saturday: “Friday was a great road win for us. I liked the effort of guys liked Nickolaus who created scoring opportunities for Busch and others. Martin was a difference maker once again. Scoring 40 goals in any league is a big accomplishment, but those accomplishments don’t happen without a good team supporting you. While I was pleased with the win on Friday, I was disappointed with the loss on Saturday. We played well enough to win but took a lazy penalty late in the third to give them a lifeline. With 17 seconds left and an offensive zone faceoff, we should have found a way to push that game to overtime. Unfortunately, we didn’t pick up our assignments on the back check and paid the price. The same was true of their first goal on Saturday. Our back checker was a little too lackadaisical coming back and didn’t pick up the high guy who eventually scored on that play. Those 2 points were important to us. Our task is to look forward and focus on playing responsibly for all 60 minutes. This team has the talent and depth to finish the last 5 games of the regular season strong and make a deep run in the playoffs.”
Up Next: The Windigo return home to the Dome on March 22 and 23 to host the Springfield Jr. Blues. 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.