*Photo Contributed by Juan Carlos Wood – @photosbyjcw on Instagram
This upcoming weekend, the Wisconsin Windigo are slated to travel to the Northwest corner of the continent for a series in Alaska with the Anchorage Wolverines. The two-game set begins Friday, Nov. 14 at 10:35 PM Central Time before game two takes place Saturday, Nov. 15 at the same time.
In the team’s last series, the Windigo picked up their first series sweep at home this season with two wins over the Minnesota Wilderness. In the first game, the Windigo lit up the scoresheet with five unanswered goals across the first two periods before they held on to win 6-4. In the series closer, Minnesota went up 2-0 after the first period before Wisconsin kicked it into gear to win 4-3. The comeback was heavily fueled by winger Jackson Ernst, who scored his first career hat trick. With the pair of victories, the Windigo moved to 4-0 against the division-leading Wilderness this season.
In Anchorage’s last series, the Wolverines squared off against the Springfield Jr. Blues three times. Anchorage won two of the three contests, as they picked up 5-3 and 4-3 wins on Friday and Sunday respectively. Springfield won Saturday’s contest 6-4.
After last weekend’s slate, the Windigo are led in points by second-year right winger Teddy Richardson, who has 18 points in 16 games played this season. Second-year defenseman Michael Ryan leads all defensemen with 17 tallies. Alongside Richardson, Ryan and Ernst, the Windigo have three other skaters above the 10-point mark, including Alexios Georgaklis, Ronnie Hill and Peyton Mithmuangneua.
In net, Casimir Weckstrom leads the team with a 4-3-1 record, a 2.53 GAA and a .925 save percentage in eight appearances. Easton Cody has also performed well with a 3-4-0 record, a 3.27 GAA and a .909 save percentage through seven games.
In the NAHL Midwest Division standings, the Windigo currently hold onto fourth place with a 10-8-1 overall record. They trail the 13-5-2 Minnesota Wilderness by seven points. The Wolverines are a few points behind Wisconsin, as Anchorage has an 8-9-2 record through 19 games this season.
Since the Windigo took on their new name ahead of the 2022-23 season, the Anchorage Wolverines have been one of the more-consistently tough opponents to face. In the series history, Anchorage leads the all-time matchup 15-11, and they are the only team with an overall winning record against the Windigo. However, Friday’s meeting will be the first time these two teams faced off since last year’s Midwest Division Championship series, where the Windigo won 3-2 to secure a trip to the Robertson Cup playoffs.
Puck Drop Friday night is set for 10:35 PM Central Time (7:35 PM AKST). All Windigo home and away games can be streamed on NATV. Visit nahltv.com for more details.
