In its first set of games after clinching first place in the Midwest Division, the Minnesota Wilderness will conclude the season-series vs. its closest rival.
The Wilderness will meet the Chippewa Steel in a 3-game series set to begin Thursday night. Minnesota and Chippewa will open in Chippewa Falls, WI, head to Cloquet for game 2 Friday night before meeting again in Chippewa Falls on Saturday. Both games in Chippewa Falls will start at 7 p.m. Central time, while the Cloquet contest has puck drop scheduled for 7:15.
The Wilderness (37-9-4) have won all nine games played thus far vs. Chippewa (10-38-3) this season. In their most recent weekend matchup, Minnesota won both nights in a home/home 2-game series on Jan. 16-17 by scores of 4-0 in Chippewa Falls and 9-1 at home.
Last weekend (March 13-14), Chippewa split a home weekend series vs. the Wisconsin Windigo, beating the Windigo Friday, 4-2, before falling Saturday, 7-1.
The Wilderness have won five in a row. They completed a sweep last weekend at the Springfield Jr. Blues by scores of 4-1 and 6-2. Those victories allowed Minnesota to claim its first ever NAHL Midwest Division regular season championship. They also gave the Wilderness a franchise record 20 road victories on the season, extended their streak of consecutive road games with a point to a new record of 12, and set a new single-season mark of 35 regulation wins.
Wilderness Birthday: March 17 – Olle Karlsson (21), March 22 – Cayden Neice (18)
Media: Watch all games on NAHLTV.com.
Tale of the Tape
| Team | GF | GA | PP | PK |
| Wilderness | 217 (4.34 GFPG) | 121 (2.42 GAPG) | 37 for 192 (19.3%) | 33 for 193 (82.9%) |
| Chippewa | 109 (2.14 GFPG) | 235 (4.61 GAPG) | 21 for 174 (12.1%) | 51 for 236 (78.4%) |
Midwest Division standings
| Place | Team | Games Played | Points | This week’s opponent (all games Fri./Sat. unless otherwise noted) |
| 1 | xy-Wilderness | 50 | 78 | 3 vs. Chippewa: Thurs./Sat. away, Fri. home |
| 2 | Fairbanks | 53 | 65 | 2 vs. Janesville |
| 3 | Wisconsin | 51 | 62 | 2 vs. Springfield |
| 4 | Anchorage | 53 | 62 | 3 vs. Kenai River |
| 5 | Springfield | 51 | 55 | 2 @ Wisconsin |
| 6 | Janesville | 50 | 45 | 2 @ Fairbanks |
| 7 | Kenai River | 51 | 39 | 2 @ Anchorage |
| 8 | Chippewa | 51 | 23 | 3 vs. Wilderness: Thurs./Sat. home, Fri. away |
x=clinched playoff spot, y=clinched division