Wilderness swept at home

The Minnesota Wilderness dropped two games at home last weekend by 4-3 scores against the Springfield Jr. Blues.

The Wilderness held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 Friday before the Jr. Blues scored three unanswered goals. The first goal, coming just 18 seconds in, was scored on a redirection by Brady Zugec off a shot taken by Zach Howard. That was followed by Zach Homer firing in a rebound at 3:54 to make it 2-0.

After a Springfield goal made it 2-1 midway through the first period, the Wilderness restored its two-goal advantage thanks to a Frantisek Netusil tap-in at the 9:42 mark in the second.

The Jr. Blues began the comeback late in the second and followed with two third period goals for the one-goal win.

The Wilderness outshot Springfield 39-29 Saturday night but fell again 4-3. Karson Young, Ben Doll and Lucas Jendek scored for Minnesota. Young and Doll gave the Wilderness a brief 2-1 first period lead. Springfield eliminated that lead 28 seconds later to make it 2-2.

Springfield scored two more in the second before Jendek scored a power play goal, but it wasn’t enough.

Nick Erickson suffered his second consecutive defeat in goal.

Minnesota (3-5-1) and Springfield (5-2-0) will meet each other again this weekend in Illinois.