Wilderness hang on to first at the break

The Minnesota Wilderness finished the early part of its campaign in first place in its division over the weekend, splitting a pair of games in Springfield, Illinois.

The Wilderness got power-play goals from Michael Quinn and Donovan O’Neil to defeat Springfield 3-1 on Friday, breaking a 1-1 tie. Quinn’s goal was his sixth of the season and extended his points streak to five games. Goaltender Isak Posch made 26 saves on 27 shots for the win, improving to 11-7-2.

The Wilderness fell 5-2 to the Jr. Blues on Saturday, surrendering three power-play goals. Minnesota’s Kevin Marx Norén scored his team-leading 14th goal, and collected four points over the weekend.

Goalie Konrad Kausch made 12 saves in falling to 7-3-1.

The Wilderness (18-10-3) are off until a Jan. 6-7 home series at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet against the Kenai River (Alaska) Brown Bears.

With 39 points, Minnesota leads the Midwest Division of the North American Hockey League ahead of Kenai River and Fairbanks (Alaska), both with 37 points. Minnesota leads the division with a plus-13 points differential with 88 goals scored and 75 goals allowed.

The Wilderness finished 6-3-1 in the 10 games leading up to the break.