Who: Minnesota Wilderness, New Jersey Titans, Amarillo Wranglers, Maryland Black Bears and Aberdeen Wings
When: vs. New Jersey, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 8:00 p.m. vs. Amarillo, Thursday, Sept. 14, 5:00 p.m.; vs. Maryland, Friday, Sept. 15, 11:30 a.m.; vs. Aberdeen, Saturday, Sept., 16, 2:45 p.m. (all times CDT)
Where: Super Rink, National Sports Center, Blaine, MN
The lead: The Minnesota Wilderness follows a tough season-opening loss with a challenging schedule at the annual NAHL Showcase.
Media: All of the action can be seen on nahltv.com.
2023 Playoffs: New Jersey fell to Maine in the East Division semi-finals, Amarillo lost to Oklahoma in the South Division Finals, Maryland won the East Division, and was eliminated by Austin in the Robertson Cup semi-finals, while Aberdeen was knocked out by St. Cloud in the Central Division semi-finals. The Wilderness won the Midwest Division and was eliminated by Oklahoma in the Robertson Cup semi-finals.
2023-24 records: The Wilderness are 0-1 after falling to Anchorage 5-1 last Saturday, Sept. 9 in the kickoff to 2023-24 regular season. New Jersey is 2-0 after sweeping Danbury in its first weekend series on Sept. 8-9. Amarillo will open the season Wednesday at the Showcase vs. Janesville. Maryland is 1-1 after splitting its opening weekend vs. Johnstown. Aberdeen will begin the regular season at the Showcase Wednesday vs. Corpus Christi.
History vs. Opponents:
New Jersey (formerly known as the Soo Eagles): Wilderness leads 5-3, with New Jersey winning the last meeting at the NAHL Showcase on Sept. 21, 2018.
Amarillo: The Wranglers won the only meeting between the two squads, by a score of 5-4(OT), when they met at the 2021 NAHL Showcase.
Maryland: This Friday’s game will mark the first meeting ever between the Wilderness and Black Bears.
Aberdeen: The Wilderness and Wings are former division rivals and have met 51 times in their history. Aberdeen leads the all-time regular season series 35-10-6, and has won the last four matchups, with the last game played on May 8, 2021. The two squads also met in the 2017 Robertson Cup playoffs with Aberdeen beating the Wilderness 3-games-to-2 in the division finals.
Showcase History: If Minnesota wins Wednesday, it will mark its first victory on the Showcase’s opening day since 2016. Coincidentally, New Jersey was the opponent in that game. In its history, Minnesota is 4-5 on Wednesdays.
Wilderness records on other Showcase days are noted below:
Thursday record: 5-2-2 (Beat Northeast in 2022, 7-3)
Friday record: 3-5-1 (Fell to El Paso in 2022 in a shootout, 3-2; last win was 2019 over Corpus Christi)
Saturday record: 6-2-1 (Beat Bismarck in OT, 2-1 in 2022; has won last 4 on the final day)
Super Rinks: The Wilderness schedule this week puts the team on Super Rink (SR) 4 for the opener vs. New Jersey, SR 3 for Thursday and Friday’s games against Amarillo and Maryland, respectively; and Super Rink 2 for the finale on Saturday vs. Aberdeen. It will not have a game on SR1 in this showcase. Minnesota’s record on each rink in its history is noted below:
SR1: 6-6-2
SR2: 7-1-1 (New Jersey delivered the Wilderness its only regulation defeat on this rink in 2018)
SR3: 0-0-1 (Amarillo beat Minnesota in OT in its only game on this rink in 2021)
SR4: 5-6-1
Home Ice Advantage: Every Showcase, each team is designated as the home team twice and away team twice.
As the home team, Minnesota is 10-5-3; as the away squad, it is 8-8-2. In this showcase, the Wilderness will be the home team on Wednesday vs. New Jersey, and Saturday vs. Aberdeen. Last season, Minnesota went 2-0 in its Showcase contests as the away team, and 0-1-1 in its games as the home team.
Showcase Slush: One of the more odd occurrences at a Showcase struck in 2019, when the Wilderness and Corpus Christi Ice Rays could not finish a game on the rink it started on. The two began its Friday game on Rink 2, but poor ice conditions forced the teams to finish on SR1. The two squads switched after the 2nd period, and the game ended up going to overtime and a shootout tied at 1. Minnesota won the game, 2-1, with Nate Poolman scoring the deciding shootout goal.