A first period goal was all the Minnesota Wilderness could muster Saturday night, as it dropped the finale of its series vs. the Wisconsin Windigo, 4-1.
The Wilderness controlled the play during the opening half of the 1st stanza, outshooting Wisconsin by 10-6 count, and highlighting the effort with Gustavs Ozolins’ fourth goal of the season. Ozolins’ shot from the point got past goaltender Linards Lipskis at the 5:25 mark, with assists to Daniel Astapovich and Alessandro Lurati.
Not long after, the tide turned and the Windigo took over. Wisconsin knotted the game at one when Elliott Gulley scored with 7:05 left in the first period, and then ended up with a 17-12 shot advantage once the period was over.
The Windigo followed with two power play goals to start the second—one from Max Martin at 4:05, followed Erick Comstock scoring at 6:25. Daniil Dolzhenko then made it 4-1 when he lit the lamp at 9:31.
It was not just the game the Wilderness ended up losing. Forward Oliver Stümpel had to be transported to a local hospital after suffering an upper-body injury in the 2nd period. An ambulance was called after Stümpel appeared to be in some type of medical distress while seated on the team bench. The wait for paramedics to arrive and get him to the ambulance led to an 18-minute delay in the contest, part of which was spent with both teams going to their locker rooms.
Stümpel was alert, communicating with teammates and coaches, and expected to leave the hospital after a series of tests Saturday night.
And while there were no more goals scored after the midway point of the second period, there was plenty added to the game’s stat sheet thanks to a plethora of penalties assessed. The middle stanza alone had a combined total of 35 minutes in infractions, and 21 more minutes were added in the third period. The Wilderness also lost Kole Altergott and Joe Cesario due to game misconducts.
For the game, the two teams combined for 104 minutes of penalties.
On special teams, the Windigo finished 2-for-6, while the Wilderness could not convert on any of seven opportunities.
Nick Erickson suffered the loss in net for Minnesota, stopping 34 of 38 shots. The Windigo outshot the Wilderness, 38-31.
In addition, the victory clinches a spot in the Robertson Cup playoffs for Wisconsin. The first-place Windigo (32-12-6) have become the first team in the Midwest Division to ensure it will compete in the 2024 post-season.
Minnesota (26-20-4) will now prepare for this season’s second trip to Alaska. It’s next games are scheduled for March 15-16 in Anchorage, followed by a trip to Kenai River for a series on March 22-23.