Who: Minnesota Wilderness vs. St. Cloud Norsemen
When: Nov. 3, 7:00 p.m. CDT; Saturday, Nov. 4, 7:15 p.m. CDT
Where: Friday: Municipal Athletic Complex, St. Cloud, MN; Saturday: Northwoods Credit Union Arena, Cloquet, MN
The lead: The Minnesota Wilderness takes its 10-game winning streak into a home-and-home weekend series vs. St. Cloud.
Media: All of the action can be seen on nahltv.com.
Records: St. Cloud: 15 games, 5-4-6, 16 points, 4 th place Central Division; Wilderness: 16 games, 11-3-2, 24 points, 1st place Midwest Division
Midwest Division Standings:
| Place | Team | Points | Games Played | This weekend’s opponent |
| 1 | Wilderness | 24 | 16 | Home/home vs. St. Cloud |
| 2 | Anchorage | 18 | 15 | Idle |
| 2 | Wisconsin | 18 | 17 | 2 games vs. Chippewa |
| 2 | Janesville | 18 | 18 | Idle |
| 5 | Kenai River | 17 | 17 | 2 games vs. Fairbanks |
| 6 | Chippewa | 16 | 15 | 2 games at Wisconsin |
| 6 | Fairbanks | 16 | 17 | 2 games @ Kenai River |
| 8 | Springfield | 12 | 17 | 2 games vs. North Iowa |
Last weekend: St. Cloud dropped two contests that finished in a shootout in a home/home series vs. North Iowa. On Oct. 27, the Bulls were victorious at home, 3-2, and on Oct. 28, they came out on top in St. Cloud, 5-4. The Wilderness swept a home/home series vs. Chippewa to stretch its winning streak to 10 games and tie a
franchise record. On Friday in Chippewa Falls, Minnesota shutout the Steel 2-0, and then blanked Chippewa again Saturday in Virginia, MN, 2-0.
Streaky Facts: What do seven cities, four goaltenders, and 13 different goal scorers have in common? They all contributed to Minnesota’s current record-tying winning streak. Since it kicked off its current run on Sept. 29, the Wilderness were able to put together wins in Proctor, Cloquet, and Virginia, MN; Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Soldotna, AK; and Chippewa Falls, WI. Earning wins in net have been Loris Uberti, Ben Dardis, Adam Prokop and Nick Erickson. And the baker’s dozen lighting the lamp is made up of Adam Johnson, Aidan Shirey, Beau Janzig, Ashton Dahms, Peteris Purmalis, Oliver Stümpel, Nash Jacobsma, Oliver Band, Daniel Astapovich, Dan Harkimo, Harper Searles, Gustavs Ozolins and Joe Cesario.
Double Shutout Trouble: Last weekend’s dual shutouts of Chippewa marked the first time since the Wilderness’ premier campaign in the NAHL when it kept a team scoreless in an entire weekend series. Thanks to Adam Prokop denying all 25 shots Friday and Nick Erickson stopping all 33 Saturday, Minnesota completed its first double- shutout series since it swept the Soo Eagles in a 2-game series in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. on Nov. 1-2 of 2013. Kasimir Kaskisuo and Frank Oplinger guarded the goalmouth in that 2-game matchup. Coincidentally, those victories 10 years ago were part of the club’s first 10-game winning streak.
Erickson Equals Record: There was one other pair of consecutive games since 2013-14 where Minnesota had consecutive shutouts, but that situation involved two different opponents. That happened in 2014-15, when the Wilderness opened the season at the NAHL Showcase beating Rio Grande Valley, 6-0, and Corpus Christi, 1-0. Posting a shutout in both of those contests was Ryan Anderson, as he became the first Minnesota netminder to not allow a goal in his first two games of a season. He remained the only Wilderness goaltender to achieve that accomplishment until this weekend, when Nick Erickson blanked Chippewa on Saturday night. That win, combined with his 4-0 victory on Sept. 20, gives Erickson a 0.00 GAA and perfect save percentage through his first two starts allowing him to join Anderson in the spotless 2-game start club.
Cloudy Close Calls: St. Cloud is hoping to improve its record in games that end tied at regulation. So far, the
Norsemen are 0-5 in games that have ended in a shootout, and 0-1 in contests that have ended in overtime. St. Cloud is looking to snap a 4-game winless streak where three of its four defeats have been by shootout, with the other game being a 1-0 regulation loss to Minot. Its last win was a 1-0 decision over Bismarck on Oct. 14.