After vanquishing the Midwest Division’s 2nd place team last weekend, the Minnesota Wilderness have graduated to take on the first place Wisconsin Windigo. Minnesota, owners of the NAHL’s longest active winning streak at seven games, and Windigo meet Thursday and Friday nights at the Eagle River Sports Arena in Eagle River, WI.
Both teams enter this series coming off home sweeps on January 3-4. The Wilderness (16-13-3) took down the Anchorage Wolverines 3-2 and 6-5 (OT), while Wisconsin (22-8-3) recorded 5-2 and 3-2 wins over the Kenai River Brown Bears.
These mark the seventh and eighth meetings of the season for the Windigo and Wilderness. Wisconsin won five of the first six contests and swept the first 2-game series the teams played in Eagle River on Nov. 15-16.
Thursday night’s game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m., while puck drop for Friday night is set for 7:30.
Media: All games can be seen on nahltv.com
Midwest Division standings:
| Place | Team | Games Played | Points | This weekend’s opponent |
| 1 | Wisconsin | 33 | 47 | 2 games vs. Wilderness (Thurs./Fri.) |
| 2 | Anchorage | 31 | 43 | 3 games vs. Janesville (Fri./Sat./Sun.) |
| 3 | Fairbanks | 29 | 42 | 2 games @ Kenai River |
| 4 | Springfield | 30 | 36 | 2 games vs. Chippewa |
| 5 | Wilderness | 32 | 35 | 2 games @ Wisconsin (Thurs./Fri.) |
| 6 | Chippewa | 34 | 33 | 2 games @ Springfield |
| 7 | Kenai River | 33 | 27 | 2 games vs. Fairbanks |
| 8 | Janesville | 30 | 20 | 3 games @ Anchorage (Fri./Sat./Sun.) |
Tale of the Tape
| Team | GF | GA | PP | PK |
| Wisconsin | 122 | 114 | 24 for 110 (21.8%) | 14 for 142 (90.1%) |
| Wilderness | 130 | 98 | 29 for 148 (19.6%) | 22 for 114 (80.7%) |