Wilderness goalie honored for his play in weekend split

The Minnesota Wilderness split a pair of games last weekend, one that saw only three total goals scored in games against the Springfield (Illinois) Jr. Blues. The Wilderness fell 1-0 on Friday, before taking a 2-0 win Saturday as goaltender Isak Posch earned the shutout.

Posch stopped all 26 shots, one night after Springfield’s Carson Dorfman made all 34 saves for a shutout of his own. The Friday loss snapped the Wilderness’ eight-game point streak.

Beau Janzig notched his third goal of the season to start the scoring Saturday.

After a lackluster second period, Minnesota (7-4-2) turned up the intensity in the third frame, outshooting Springfield 13-5, and adding to the lead thanks to a needle-threader from newcomer Oliver Stümpel. It was the first goal in a Wilderness uniform for Stümpel, who was playing his second game since being acquired from the Corpus Christi Ice Rays.

Springfield fell to 5-8-0.

For the weekend, Posch finished with 52 saves on 53 shots in two games, earning Minnesota’s first North American Hockey League award of the season. The league named the Umea, Sweden native its Midwest Division Star of the Week.

“Isak has been good for us all season and it’s nice that he gets recognized for his hard work,” said Minnesota head coach Brett Skinner.

Posch is committed to play at St. Cloud State.

The Wilderness stand in fifth place in the Midwest with 16 points, seven back of the leading Kenai River Brown Bears (23).

The Wilderness return to action this weekend for a home-and-home series with the St. Cloud Norsemen. Friday night’s game will be at Cloquet’s Northwoods Credit Union Arena at 7:15 p.m. The rematch Saturday will be played at 7 p.m. at the Municipal Athletic Complex in St. Cloud.