Wins keep coming on road

What a difference a night makes. After the Minnesota Wilderness beat the Springfield Jr. Blues 4-3 Friday night, eight players scored for Springfield Saturday in a 9-3 pummeling of the Wilderness.

Friday was good for the Cloquet team. Four players scored for the Wilderness that night, with rookie Jared Mangan leading the way, adding two assists for three points. The South Carolina native opened the scoring at 9:43 of the first period with his second goal of the season. He then helped set up Ethan Wolthers on a power play goal with 5:38 that gave Minnesota a 2-0 lead.

That lead vanished before the second period hit the halfway mark as Springfield applied terrific puck control and a tight forecheck. The line of Isaac Keller, Brayden Cook and Hayden Riva struck twice, with Keller scoring at the 4:31 mark, followed by Cook popping one in at 8:51.

The Wilderness regained the lead on a terrific display of marksmanship from Gunnar Thoreson.

It was the 13th goal of the season for Thoreson who, thanks also to one assist in the game, now leads the team with 46 points.

The 3-2 advantage held up through the end of the third period. The Wilderness scored one more to make it 4-2 with 8:37 left when Severi Sulonen fired a laser high on Roberts’ stick side from the left faceoff dot for his third goal of his rookie season.

The Jr. Blues did manage a power play goal with 2:11 left from Hagen Moe while also pulling their goaltender to give them six attackers, but they would not get any closer.

The Saturday loss snaps a three-game winning streak for the Wilderness, and a five-game losing streak for Springfield.

On Thursday, two second period goals scored just over a minute apart were enough to push the Wilderness past the Minnesota Magicians in Richfield Thursday night. Max Neill’s goal on the power-play at 8:27 gave the Wilderness a 2-1 lead at the 8:27 mark, and that was followed

by an Ethan Wolthers tally just 1:04 later to increase the lead to two goals. A surge by the Magicians that led to a late second period power-play goal but it was not enough as the Wilderness prevailed, 3-2.

The Wilderness continue their longest road swing of the season with a visit to Alaska. The trip up north begins with a three-game road series at the Anchorage Wolverines.

The Wilderness play at home next on March 25-26 against the Janesville Jets.