Who: Minnesota Wilderness vs. Chippewa Steel
When: Oct. 27, 7:00 p.m. CDT; Saturday, Oct. 28, 7:15 p.m. CDT
Where: Friday: Chippewa Area Ice Arena, Chippewa Falls, WI; Saturday: Iron Trail Motors Event Center, Virginia, MN
The lead: The Minnesota Wilderness seeks to strengthen its hold on first place in the Midwest Division with another home/home set with Chippewa.
Media: All of the action can be seen on nahltv.com.
Records: Chippewa: 13 games, 8-5, 16 points; Wilderness: 14 games, 9-3-2, 20 points
Midwest Division Standings:
| Place | Team | Points | Games played | This weekend’s opponent |
| 1 | Wilderness | 20 | 14 | Home/home vs. Chippewa |
| 2 | Chippewa | 16 | 13 | Home/home vs. Wilderness |
| 2 | Janesville | 16 | 15 | 3 games @ Fairbanks |
| 4 | Wisconsin | 15 | 14 | 3 games @ Anchorage |
| 5 | Anchorage | 14 | 12 | 3 games vs. Wisconsin |
| 6 | Kenai River | 13 | 14 | 3 games vs. Springfield |
| 7 | Fairbanks | 12 | 14 | 3 games vs. Janesville |
| 8 | Springfield | 10 | 14 | 3 games @ Kenai River |
Last weekend: The Wilderness claimed sole possession of first place with a win Oct. 20 over Chippewa. In the first
game of the home/home in Cloquet, the Wilderness completed a 4-0 shutout. On Oct. 21, it expanded its division
lead to 4 pts with its eighth straight triumph, 4-3 in Chippewa Falls.
Birthday: Oliver Stümpel 10/20 (20)
Dahms Undenied: Ashton Dahms continues to score at a torrid pace, and his numbers are rising up the league stats. With 10 goals in nine games, Dahms now sits fourth in goals scored, and is only three behind league scoring leader Will Schumacher of Wisconsin. With sixteen points, his 1.78 pts per game is third in the league, which is just behind league leader Sixten Jennersjo of Northeast at 1.8. Dahms also leads all Wilderness scorers with 16 points.
Goalie Frenzy: Nick Erickson’s start in net on Oct. 20 made him the fourth goaltender the Wilderness has used in its current 8-game winning streak. Loris Uberti was in net when the Wilderness began its run on Sept. 29 vs. Springfield. Ben Dardis then proceeded to start three of the next four games, while Adam Prokop has started twice.
Range Rumble: The game in Virginia on Oct. 28 will mark the sixth time in team history the club has played a home game outside of its home arena of Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet (not counting NAHL Showcase games). Three of those games were played in September at St. Luke’s Sports and Event Center in Proctor, MN. The Wilderness has also played special games at Handke Pit in Elk River, MN, when it hosted Hockey Day in Minnesota in 2014, the Essentia Health Duluth Heritage Sports Center in 2019, and one other game in Proctor in 2020. In those six contests, the Wilderness has a record of 4-2.
Low PIMs: After finishing with the Midwest Division’s lowest penalty minute totals in 2022-23, the Wilderness is again among the NAHL’s most disciplined teams. Minnesota set a franchise record last season by compiling the lowest penalty minutes over a single campaign. It’s 648 PIMS were 2 nd lowest in the league, just one minute less than league-leader North Iowa. This season, the Wilderness is 2 nd to only Chippewa in the Midwest Division. Minnesota currently has 164 PIMs, while the Steel has racked up 162 PIMs. League-wide, Minnesota’s totals are in 6th place.
Middendorf Successful Debut Weekend: Chippewa’s Gavin Middendorf played his first two games with the squad last weekend after being acquired from the Cedar Rapids Roughriders of the USHL. After being held scoreless Friday, the Forest Lake, MN, native registered two points Saturday. The forward helped the Steel claw back to tie the game after being down 3-1. He first assisted on Aidan Willis’ goal with 3:12 left in the 2nd period before scoring on his own 2:06 into the third. Middendorf is in his 2 nd season of Jr. hockey; he spent 2022-23 with Drayton Valley of the AJHL.