Wilderness avoid sweep; Alaska next

The Minnesota Wilderness got a Nate Murray goal in the final round of a shootout Saturday to capture a 2-1 win over the Chippewa Steel, Minnesota’s lone win in a three-game series. The Wilderness lost 4-3 in overtime Thursday night and 3-1 Friday night. Thursday’s game was in Wisconsin and the weekend games were in Cloquet.

Earlier in October, the Wilderness saw head coach Colten St. Clair leave for another coaching opportunity. The team hired Minnesota native Zach Stepan as the franchise’s seventh head coach since it entered the league in 2013.

Stepan had been leading the organization’s new North American tier 3 Hockey League team in Eveleth as head coach and general manager. Saturday marked Stepan’s first win leading the Wilderness.

The Wilderness are now 5-7-2 on the season and in seventh place in the Midwest Division, which is led by Wisconsin at 10-2-1. The team heads to Alaska for five games Nov. 1 to Nov. 10. The Wilderness will not play at home again until Nov. 22.