Wilderness and Windigo to Clash in Eagle River

Who: Minnesota Wilderness vs. Wisconsin Windigo

When: Dec. 1 and Dec. 2, 7:00 p.m. CST

Where: Eagle River Sports Arena, Eagle River, WI

The lead: Minnesota hits the road this weekend for a border battle series vs. the Wisconsin Windigo.

Media: All of the action can be seen on nahltv.com.

Records: Wisconsin: 25 games: 12-9-4, 28 points; Minnesota: 25 games: 16-7-2, 34 points

Midwest Division Standings:

Last weekend:

• Wisconsin split a series at Chippewa, winning in a shootout on Nov. 24, 4-3, then falling to the Steel the following night, 8-2
• The Wilderness won two of three games last weekend, beginning with a 6-2 win on Nov. 22 at home vs. Chippewa, then splitting a series at Janesville on Nov. 24-25, with the Jets taking game 1, 6-3, and the Wilderness getting a 5-4 victory in game 2.

Season Series: These games will mark the first matchups of this season between these two teams at Eagle River. The two squads played a 2-game series in Cloquet on Nov. 17-18, with the Wilderness winning both contests, 4-1 and 2-1 in a shootout. Last season at Eagle River Sports Arena, Wisconsin won all four regular season meetings vs. the Wilderness, while the two squads split a pair of playoff contests in the Midwest Division Finals. 

Uberti Returns: Goaltender Loris Uberti returned to the Wilderness crease Saturday night. The veteran from Martigney, SUI, entered the game at the beginning of the third period in relief of starter Adam Prokop. In his first game experience since Sept. 29, Uberti stopped all nine shots he faced over 18:10. Uberti recently was added back to the Wilderness lineup as a backup netminder after missing several weeks due to injury. Over seven games. Uberti has a 3-2-2 record, with a 3.00 GAA and .886 save percentage.

Winning November: Saturday’s victory clinched a second consecutive winning month for the Wilderness. Minnesota finished November with a 5-4 record, following up an October where the team went 8-0. After beginning November with three straight defeats, the Wilderness made a strong finish, winning five of its last six
contests.

Offensive Outburst: The Wilderness has been able to climb into first place in the Midwest Division thanks to a
sound defensive structure. This past weekend, the Wilderness flexed its offensive muscle to win 2-of-3 contests. It began Wednesday by scoring a season-high six goals vs. Chippewa, which included five goals in one period (the 2nd) and tying a team regular season record. It followed that performance with a five-goal game Saturday. Prior to the team’s win Nov. 22, the Wilderness had not scored more than four goals in a game this season.

Band in Rhythm: Forward Oliver Band’s two goals Saturday marked his first multi-goal game since his first
appearance in a NAHL contest at the beginning of the 2022-23 season. Band began his NAHL career with the
Philadelphia Rebels, and in his first game, he scored twice vs. the Corpus Christi Ice Rays on Sept. 14, 2022. The native of Vancouver, BC, has four goals and four assists for eight points over 22 games thus far this season. Band is in his fourth season of Jr. hockey, and has appeared in 136 games throughout his Jr. A career, which also includes time spent with Boston of the NCDC and Notre Dame of the SJHL.

Comstock Commits: Wisconsin defenseman Erick Comstock this week announced his NCAA commitment. The Salol, MN, native revealed his plan to play Division 1 hockey with Augustana University of the CCHA. The 18-year-old Comstock is in his first season of Jr. hockey, and currently leads all Windigo defensemen in scoring with five goals, 13 assists and 18 points over 25 games.