Two of the best North American Hockey League teams, the Wisconsin Windigo and the Anchorage Wolverines, faced off inside the historic Eagle River Dome this past weekend and Anchorage stole two games on the Windigo with 4-1 and 5-3 wins Friday and Saturday.
The Wolverines recently ranked as the eighth-best team in the league, and gained two games on Wisconsin in the Midwest Division on the No. 2-ranked Windigo, as six regular Windigo players were missing for a variety of reasons.
The Windigo fell to 19-5-1-2 with 41 total points and the Wolverines gained a few points as they sit at 18-6-1-0 with 37 points.
“We’re obviously disappointed in the results last weekend. We played well enough in stretches both nights to win, but we needed to be more consistent,” said Windigo head coach John Mitchell.
Wisconsin was shut down for good in the opening game Friday. Despite a 12-to-8 shot advantage on the Wolverines, the Windigo failed to beat Roberto Leonardo Henriquez in the opening period. Offensively, Anchorage took the lead at 11:24 of the first and held the 1-0 lead at the first intermission. The second period was much of the same for the Windigo, outshooting Anchorage 11-7, but the Wolverines scored two more to extend their lead to 3-0 after two periods.
Scoreless through more than 10 minutes in the third, the Wolverines put the game to bed at 13:49 of the third for a 4-0 lead. A Windigo powerplay tally by Lucas Busch was the lone goal of the night for Wisconsin.
“We actually out-chanced them both nights but couldn’t
covert frequently enough. We had some turnovers that were costly and a few shots on our net that we’d like to have back. A good team like Anchorage will make an opponent pay for their mistakes,” said Mitchell.
Wesley Jefferson-Swint II got the start in net and saved 21 Wolverine shots in the loss.
Another dominant game in the shot department for Wisconsin again ended in a loss by the end of the game. The Windigo fought through most of the opening period scoreless with the Wolverines before Wisconsin capitalized on a 2-on-1 opportunity. Elliot Gulley fired the puck from the far faceoff circle after using a teammate as a decoy to the right of the Anchorage goaltender.
The 1-0 lead held through the early stages of the second before Beau Kralovec gave the Windigo the 2-0 cushion.
From there, Anchorage never went away as it rattled off three unanswered goals in two minutes to silence the home crowd.
After entering the locker room down 3-2, the Windigo came out swinging in the third and Martin Klicka made a forehand to backhand move and beat the Wolverine goalkeeper to the top of the net to make it a 3-3 game.
Wisconsin’s offense had chances late, but the Wolverines took advantage twice more, which included an empty netter at 18:34 to seal the victory.
Wisconsin is back on the road this weekend with another two-game series with the Chippewa Steel Friday and Saturday, Dec. 13-14, before heading back to Eagle River for games against another Alaska squad, the Fairbanks Ice Dogs Friday and Saturday, Dec. 20-21.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here