What do you do the following season after almost winning the RBC Cup given by Hockey Canada to the top Canadian Junior Tier II team and your team is from Minnesota. You join the NAHL. That is what the Minnesota Wilderness did this season. They opened their four exhibition season beating another new NAHL entry, the Minnesota Magicians 4-3 in a thrilling come from behind win.
It was the first NAHL game for the new Magician’s franchise that will play the 2013-2104 season out of the Richfield Arena. Last night’s game was played at the Bloomington Ice Garden.
Most of last season’s Wilderness team, playing out of Cloquet, has moved on. Nine of last season’s players were 1992er’s and no longer eligible for junior hockey. Three of those nine players were top goal scorers for the Wilderness (Mike Dietrich, Jordan Shockley, and Jeremy Johnson). Dietrich will be playing NCAA hockey for American International College in 2013-2014.
Last night at the Bloomington Ice Gardens, the Wilderness, re-built and re-tooled with nine players who played NAHL hockey last year and a new coach in Cloquet native Corey Milan, carried on their winning ways, scoring three goals in the final 8 minutes of the game to beat the new Magicians.
It was a game where team strength and team play eventually beat a talented set of forwards put on the ice by the Magicians. Magicians’ goalie Bryan Neis proved strong in the nets in the early going and the defense was great in clearing the puck. It resulted in a the Magicians taking a 3-1 lead deep into the third period only to face a 5-on-3 penalty kill with 9 minutes to play. The Magicians killed the 5-on-3 only but gave up a tough angled rebound power play goal on the 5-on-4 that goal cut their lead cut to 3-2.
That power play sequence drained the energy out of the Magicians defense. After scoring the power play goal, the Wilderness opened up their game and stretched the play on the ice. It resulted in multiple breakaways with the Wilderness eventually scoring twice to win the game.