The Minnesota Wilderness hope to use a Thanksgiving eve win over Wisconsin as a springboard for the first half’s final stretch beginning this weekend with a trip to Springfield.
The Wilderness and Jr. Blues will open a 2-game series tonight at the Nelson Center in Springfield, IL, at 7:05p.m. Game 2 will be Saturday at 6:05 p.m.
Both teams enter the series coming off victories which snapped losing streaks.
Minnesota was on a 0-4-1 stretch before a 5-2 win over the Windigo on Wednesday night in Cloquet. Four of those losses were against first-place Wisconsin in weekend series on Nov. 15-16 in Eagle River, WI, and Nov. 22-23 in Cloquet.
Springfield won game 2 of its series at Janesville 3-0 on Nov. 23, after going winless in its previous four games, including a 6-1 loss to the Jets the night before.
Only one point separates the Wilderness and Springfield in the Midwest Division standings. The Jr. Blues (11-9-0) have 22 points and occupy 5th place, while the Wilderness (9-12-3) sit in 6th place with 21 points.
These will mark the fifth and sixth meetings of the season between the two squads. Springfield leads the season series with three wins in the previous four contests. The two teams split a series in Springfield on Oct. 11-12.
Media: All games can be seen on nahltv.com
Midwest Division standings:
| Place | Team | Games Played | Points | This weekend’s opponent |
| 1 | Wisconsin | 23 | 37 | 2 games vs. Chippewa |
| 2 | Anchorage | 23 | 33 | Idle |
| 3 | Fairbanks | 19 | 29 | 2 games vs. Kenai River |
| 4 | Chippewa | 22 | 25 | 2 games vs. Anchorage |
| 5 | Springfield | 20 | 22 | 2 games vs. Wilderness |
| 6 | Wilderness | 24 | 21 | 2 games @ Springfield |
| 7 | Kenai River | 23 | 19 | 2 games @ Fairbanks |
| 8 | Janesville | 22 | 13 | Idle |
Tale of the Tape
| Team | GF | GA | PP | PK |
| Wilderness | 83 | 94 | 24 for 118 (20.3%) | 17 for 92 (81.5%) |
| Springfield | 55 | 55 | 12 for 85 (14.1%) | 14 for 80 (82.5%) |