The Minnesota Wilderness had elite performances offensively and in net Friday night in a 4-0 victory over the Chippewa Steel.
Harper Searles completed his first junior A hat trick by scoring three third period goals, while Nick Erickson earned the shutout, denying all 27 Steel shots. Peteris Purmalis also contributed three assists, while one goal went to Ashton Dahms.
The win means the Wilderness is now all alone in first place in the Midwest Division after entering the game tied with Chippewa for the top spot. It’s Minnesota seventh consecutive victory, and eighth straight game with at least one point. It also snaps a streak of seven straight wins Chippewa carried into the contest.
Another big factor was the Wilderness power play, which came through with two goals for the second straight game. Minnesota finished the night going 2-for-3 with the man-advantage. It also limited its trips to the sin bin with one minor penalty and kept Chippewa scoreless on its single power play chance.
Dahms gave the Wilderness the game’s first lead when he deposited Minnesota’s first power play goal on the night. While stationed at the left post, Dahms redirected a shot from Daniel Astapovich with 5:10 left in the first to give the Wilderness a 1-0 advantage. Purmalis also assisted on the marker which was Dahms’ team-leading ninth of the season in only eight games.
After a scoreless second period, the Wilderness added to its lead in the third frame with another power play tally which featured Astapovich and Purmalis earning assists. This time the pair helped Searles generate his first goal of the game. Purmalis started the play by denying a Chippewa attempt to clear the puck out of its own end. In the left circle, Astapovich caught a deflection off Purmalis’ stick, which then led to a pass to Searles in the right circle. Searles then whistled a shot past goaltender Ajay White to make it 2-0 5:10 into the final period.
Searles used a quick release to make it a 3-goal lead later in the stanza, thanks to an elite 2-way effort from Oliver Stümpel. Stümpel first stripped the puck away from an opposing player while at center ice, then carried the puck into Chippewa territory on the right side. Upon reaching the right circle, Stümpel delivered a pinpoint backhand pass to Searles in the slot, and the forward from Blaine, MN, completed the play with this second goal of the night.
That was followed by Searles burying an empty net goal with 48 seconds left that Purmalis and Nolan Bettens assisted on. It was a history-making night for Searles who completed just the fourth natural hat trick (three goals in succession) in franchise history, joining Aaron Miller, Darian Romanko and Kevin Marx Norén. His accomplishment has the added distinction of three goals being scored in one period, which only Marx Norén and Miller had done before.
Searles now leads all team rookies with four goals on the season.
Meanwhile, Erickson managed to hold the fort in the defensive zone by shutting out his opponent in his first start of the campaign. The veteran from Apple Valley, MN, had to be extra sharp in the second period, when Chippewa outshot Minnesota 12-7.
The Wilderness finished the game with a 30-27 shot advantage.
Friday’s game was the first of four consecutive between the Wilderness (8-3-2) and Steel (8-4). Round 2 will be Saturday night, this time with Chippewa as the home team. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. at the Chippewa Area Ice Arena in Chippewa Falls, WI.