The Minnesota Wilderness complete their most successful regular season in franchise history this weekend with a 2-game road series vs. the Janesville Jets.
The Friday/Saturday contests will feature a rematch of last weekend’s games. The Wilderness and Jets faced off during the weekend of April 3-4, with Minnesota completing the series sweep by scores of 5-3 and 6-2.
The final series will also be the final tune-up for the Wilderness before they embark on the 2026 Robertson Cup playoffs, expected to begin the weekend of April 17-18. Minnesota has clinched the Midwest Division regular season title and will be the division’s top seed once the post-season begins.
Along with this being the first Wilderness team to win a regular season division crown, the team has also set new single season records in several categories including wins, points, goals scored, short-handed goals, road victories and consecutive games without a regulation loss. Last weekend, they set another record by extending a road winning streak to nine.
Overall, the Wilderness enter having won their last three contests. Against Janesville, they have also won three straight and lead the season series having won four of their six head-to-head meetings.
Janesville is scheduled to play three games on its final weekend. The Jets travel to Chippewa Falls, WI, Thursday night to take on the Chippewa Steel before heading back home for the first game of its set vs. Minnesota Friday night. Janesville will finish in sixth place in the Midwest Division and will not qualify for the post-season.
Both games this weekend will be at Janesville’s Mercy Health Arena with puck-drop set for 7:05 p.m.
By Sunday morning, the Wilderness will learn who their first-round playoff opponent will be. Minnesota will host games 1 and 2 of their opening playoff series at the Aspirus St. Luke’s Sports and Event Center in Proctor, MN.
Media: Watch all games on NAHLTV.com.
Tale of the Tape
| Team | GF | GA | PP | PK |
| Wilderness | 244 (4.28 GFPG) | 137 (2.4 GAPG) | 45 for 224 (20.1%) | 36 for 213 (83.1%) |
| Janesville | 170 (3.04 GFPG) | 180 (3.21 GAPG) | 51 for 229 (22.3%) | 39 for 210 (81.4%) |
Midwest Division standings
| Place | Team | Games Played | Points | This week’s opponent (all games Fri./Sat. unless otherwise noted) |
| 1 | xy-Wilderness | 57 | 88 | 2 @ Janesville |
| 2 | x-Wisconsin | 57 | 70 | 2 @ Springfield |
| 3 | x-Anchorage | 59 | 70 | Idle (Completed regular season schedule) |
| 4 | x-Fairbanks | 57 | 69 | 2 vs. Kenai River |
| 5 | Springfield | 57 | 63 | 2 vs. Wisconsin |
| 6 | Janesville | 56 | 51 | 1 @ Chippewa (Thurs.), 2 vs. Wilderness (Fri./Sat.) |
| 7 | Kenai River | 57 | 43 | 2 @ Fairbanks |
| 8 | Chippewa | 58 | 26 | 1 vs. Janesville (Thurs.) |
x=clinched playoff spot, y=clinched division