The Minnesota Wilderness remain unbeaten for 2026 and moved their overall winning streak to six games after a weekend sweep of the Chippewa Steel Jan. 9 and 10.
In the home-and-home series, the Wilderness (24-7-2) doubled-up Chippewa (6-25-2), 4-2, Friday in Chippewa Falls, WI, and followed with a 5-2 win in Cloquet Saturday.
Logan Nagle and River Freeman led offensively with both totaling three goals over the two games. Nagle’s tallies included the game-winner in each contest.
In goal, the Wilderness split duties with Ryan Gerlich getting the start and win in game 1 and Valdemar Andersen victorious between the pipes in game 2.
Minnesota will seek a repeat performance next weekend as they take on Chippewa again in the same home-and-home format – with Friday’s game in Chippewa Falls and Saturday’s matchup in Cloquet.
Friday: Wilderness 4, Chippewa 2
Logan Nagle scored two goals just seconds apart in the 2nd period to break a 1-1 tie and put Minnesota ahead to stay in Friday’s contest.
Nagle’s first marker came off a feed from Jack Martens 6:01 into the middle frame. The veteran forward snapped a shot from the left circle that beat Chippewa netminder Zach Stahl high on his glove side.
Later in the same shift, Nagle scored again just 54 seconds later when he poked the puck past Stahl, with assists coming from Bryce Dahl and Avery Anderson.
River Freeman then completed a 3-goal 2nd period when he lit the lamp right off a face-off. After winning a draw in the left circle, Freeman jabbed the puck between Stahl and the left post with 1:27 left to make it 4-1.
A goal from Ryan Murphy with 8:59 remaining in the third period would allow Chippewa to cut the deficit to two, but that would be the game’s final goal.
Minnesota finished 1-for-4 on the power play. Zach Homer notched the game’s only special teams goal when the team executed two cross-ice passes. Caleb Kim first sent the puck from the left circle to Talan Blanck at the bottom of the right circle, who then found Homer all alone positioned on the left side who deposited the puck for his team-leading 23 rd goal of the season with 2:04 left in the first period.
Chippewa had goals from Blake Graff and Ryan Murphy.
The Steel went 0-for-1 on the man-advantage.
The Wilderness outshot Chippewa, 27-26, with Ryan Gerlich gaining the win with 24 saves. Stahl suffered the loss stopping 23 Minnesota shots.
Saturday: Wilderness 5, Chippewa 2
After falling behind the Steel for the first time this season in the seventh game between the two teams, the Wilderness rallied with four goals in the third period to win the game and complete the weekend sweep.
Robinson Djian began the scoring spree when he notched his sixth of the season 2:01 into the final period. After Owen Smith cut off a clearing attempt at the left blue line, he immediately found Djian all alone at the bottom of the left circle, and the veteran forward from Annecy, France, beat Steel Max Kogler to tie the game at 2-2.
Just 1:08 later, Minnesota would take the lead. After Ryan DeAngelis fired the puck into the Steel zone from center ice, Kogler left his net to play it, and it bounced right to a hustling Logan Nagle who threw the puck into a wide-open net for his seventh marker of the campaign. Olle Karlsson also assisted on the tally which made the score 3-2.
River Freeman widened the Minnesota lead with two goals in the final minutes. His first came when he opted to shoot on a 2-on-1 with Max Edwards with 4:31 left, and his second came on an empty net with 2:05 remaining.
The Wilderness opened the scoring with 9:54 left in the first period when Noah Dziver fired in a rebound of a Zach Homer shot. Kevin Lysohir also assisted on Dziver’s 18th of 2025-26.
Chippewa then responded with two goals – the first from Austin Boyce with 7:58 left in the opening period and the second from Ryan Murphy just 7 seconds into the 2nd period.
Neither squad managed to light the lamp on the power play with each team getting two chances.
The Wilderness outshot the Steel 38-21 with Valdemar Andersen gaining his 15th victory of the season with 19 saves. Kogler was outstanding for the Steel stopping 33 of 37 Minnesota shots.