9/21/2026
For immediate release
Cloquet, MN
After opening the 2026-27 regular season with a dominating first weekend against the
Wisconsin Windigo, the Minnesota Wilderness move on to the NAHL Showcase and
three non-divisional opponents.
With a 2-0-0 record, this marks the first time in club history the Wilderness will enter a
Showcase with an unblemished record (not counting six seasons where the Wilderness
began the regular season at the Showcase).
The tournament at the Super Rink in Blaine, MN, kicks off Wednesday, September 23.
Minnesota will play three games beginning with the tournament’s very first contest at 11
a.m., Wednesday against the East Division’s Johnstown Tomahawks. That will be
followed by the Wilderness playing the final game on Thursday against the Shreveport
Mudbugs, from the South Division, at 7:15 p.m. Minnesota will wrap up its Showcase
schedule Saturday afternoon when it meets the Central Division’s St. Cloud Norsemen
at 3:45 p.m.
The Wilderness has not played since sweeping the Windigo Sept. 11-12 by scores of
10-5 and 7-2. Two of the teams on their Showcase schedule are still seeking their first
win of the regular season. Johnstown enters the tournament with a 0-2-1 record, with a
3-2 overtime loss to the Maryland Black Bears in its most recent outing. St. Cloud
kicked off its season on Sept. 18-19 losing twice at home to the Bismarck Bobcats.
On the other hand, Shreveport has begun the 26-27 campaign winning three of its first
four matchups. Last weekend, the Mudbugs split a road weekend series with the
Amarillo Wranglers, dropping Friday night’s game 6-5 before countering with a 5-2 win
Saturday.
The Wilderness and Tomahawks have faced off in three prior Showcase contests, with
Johnstown winning all three games. Their most recent being a 2021 matchup that
finished with a score of 4-1.
Minnesota and Shreveport have faced off in two previous Showcase tournaments with
each team winning once. The Mudbugs claimed their last outing in 2022, 3-1.
The Wilderness and St. Cloud are former division rivals. For five seasons, including
three when the Norsemen franchise was based in Brookings, SD, and was known as
the Brookings Blizzard, the Wilderness and Blizzard/Norsemen competed in the Central
Division meeting anywhere from 8-10 times each season.
After the Wilderness moved back to the Midwest Division in 2021, the two rivals
continued to meet four times each year for three more seasons before their annual
matchups concluded in 2023-24.
Minnesota leads the all-time series 31-21-6, although St. Cloud has won the last four
meetings. The last match up was a 2-1 Norsemen win in Cloquet on Jan. 20, 2024.
The two squads also met in the 2017 Robertson Cup playoffs when the Norsemen were
based in Brookings. The Wilderness won that series (a Central Division semi-final),
three games-to-two.
Minnesota will be designated as the home team in Friday’s matchup vs. Johnstown and
Saturday against St. Cloud. The Wilderness will be the road squad in Thursday’s game
vs. Shreveport.
Wilderness Birthday: Tobias Trieskey, G, Sept. 19 (18)
Media: Watch all games on NAHLTV.com.