Wilderness move into 2nd

Beginning a two-week swing through Alaska, the Minnesota Wilderness swept the Kenai River Brown Bears last weekend by twin scores of 4-1. With the wins, Minnesota climbed into second place in its division and kept pace with the red-hot Wisconsin Windigo.

The Wilderness got Bo Cosman’s first two goals for the team on Saturday, March 4.

In Friday’s game, the Wilderness scored three goals in the span of 2 minutes, 44 seconds. Brian Lonergan, Michael Quinn and Reid Daavettila scored the goals in quick succession, putting the game away 10 minutes into the final period.

Cosman, from Milton, Georgia, scored in the first and third periods of the win last Saturday. A 21-year-old, he was acquired in a trade last month with the Anchorage Wolverines, and is committed to play college hockey at University of Massachusetts.

Isak Posch made 62 saves over the weekend to earn the North American Hockey League’s Midwest Division Star of the Week award. Posch, 21, is a 6-foot-3, 210-pound goalie from Umea, Sweden, who is bound for St. Cloud State next season. He made 31 saves in both games.

“Isak’s consistent approach off the ice and professional mindset allowed him to play his best traveling up to Alaska and playing in a tough environment against a good opponent,” head coach Brian Skinner said in a team news release.

At 26-15-7, Minnesota has 59 points, trailing the Wisconsin Windigo, who have 63 points and are 30-15-3. Wisconsin has gone 9-0-1 in its last 10 games to take over the division.

The Wilderness will be back on the ice Friday and Saturday for a two-game series at the Anchorage Wolverines (23-18-7; 53 points). Anchorage swept third-place Fairbanks, 6-3 and 5-3, last weekend. The Fairbanks Ice Dogs remained with 57 points at 26-19-5 and fell to third place in the division.

Co-captain Gordon is desert-bound

It took Cole Gordon until his 70th game in junior hockey to score his first goal. But goals, assists and points do not tell the whole story of a junior hockey player. And last week Gordon proved that by announcing his commitment to play Division I college hockey for Arizona State University in Tempe.

Gordon posted on his Instagram account that he was proud to join the Sun Devils, and also said the following: “I would like to say thank you to all my friends, coaches, teammates, and family that have helped me along the way.”

Since scoring his first goal, statistics have started to catch up with Gordon’s tenacity on the ice. The 20-year-old has doubled his previous best-season point totals (18), and his eight goals are fifth on the team over 46 games.

“Cole has worked very hard this season to continue to improve,” Skinner said, “and ASU will not only be getting a good player, but a high-character individual who will be a part of continuing to grow their program.”

Gordon was named co-captain early in the season. At 6-2, 205, he has brought an intimidating element to the ice and been a reliable team leader, a Wilderness news release said. Gordon leads the Wilderness this season with 72 penalty minutes.

Gordon was born in Europe while his dad played professional hockey there. Gordon has spent his entire junior career with the Wilderness.