A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Post-holiday play saw the Minnesota Wilderness on a roll, winning five of seven contests, but since their fast start to the second half of the season, the Wilderness have struggled to play consistent hockey, resulting in only one win in their last six games.
“We have to be more consistent on both ends of the ice,” assistant head coach Mark Vachorek said. “We need to remember we should have won some of the games we lost to teams behind us in the standings, and they are fighting for a playoff spot just like we are.”
The Wilderness lost a home series to last-place Brookings, which was followed by a split at home with Bismarck, both teams trailing the Wilderness in the standings.
This past weekend the Wildness dropped a home and home series versus Chippewa Falls, losing 3-2 Friday night, and then again with the same score Saturday night at Northwoods Credit Union Arena.
Three of the last five losses have come in overtime or in a shootout. One of the losses was against Bismarck, in a shootout which saw 15 players from each team trying to end the contest with a shootout win; but it was Bismarck who prevailed in the end, winning the shootout 2-1. Thirty skaters had chances in the shootout, and it was Carl Fish dashing the Wilderness’ hopes.
The shootout, though exciting, was not the longest in North American Hockey League history: that was in 2012 when the Texas Tornadoes and the Amarillo Bulls set the record with 34 skaters trying to win in that shootout.
With only 19 games remaining in the regular season, the Wilderness will have to play their best hockey on the road, as they have only seven home games remaining, including a home series this Friday and Saturday as the Wilderness welcome Minot to town.
A bright spot for the Wilderness: four players have been selected to play in the 2019 Prospects Showcase in Attleboro, Mass. on Feb. 18 and 19. Dylan Johnson of Cloquet, Ondrej Trejbal of Czechoslovakia, Ryan Fanti from Ontario Canada, and Aaron Meyers from Thief River Falls will represent the Wilderness in the two-day event.
