Wilderness notch sweep of Brown Bears

The Minnesota Wilderness pulled off a North American Hockey League sweep over the Kenai River Brown Bears on Friday and Saturday at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.

The Wilderness won 6-3 on Friday and 5-2 on Saturday.

At 8-9-1-0, the Brown Bears are tied for fifth in the Midwest Division and still in the thick of the playoff race. The Wilderness are a point behind the Bears at 7-7-2-0.

Kenai River head coach Taylor Shaw said the problem is his squad is wasting valuable opportunities to pick up points at home. The Bears are 1-6 in their last seven home games.

“We haven’t been very good or successful at home in terms of getting wins,” Shaw said. “We’ve had bits and pieces where we looked really good, but we’re not getting results.

“At the end of the day, that’s what matters.”

The Wilderness got a big sweep in just the fourth and fifth games of the tenure of head coach Zach Stepan.

Former Minnesota head coach Colten St. Clair was named head coach of the Omaha (Nebraska) Lancers of the United States Hockey League in early October.

Stepan was head coach and general manager of the Wilderness NA3HL team and stepped up to the NAHL.

Despite having only five practices under Stepan, the Wilderness are now 3-1-1-0 under his leadership.

Stepan said the Wilderness were scoring a lot of goals, but also giving up a lot.

“I want to be good defensively first, and then offense will come from that,” he said.

The Wilderness and Brown Bears were even all weekend except for 8 minutes, 46 seconds, of play. During that brief time, the Bears were outscored 6-0.

“I thought the style of play for both sides was a tighter game than what the scoreboard showed, Stepan said.

Friday, the Wilderness took a 3-0 lead in the first 4:16 of the game. Frantisek Netusil had two of those goals on the way to a hat trick. Zach Homer had the other early goal.

Netusil is 17 years old and committed to Division I Western Michigan University.

“The kid knows how to score goals,” Stepan said. “His patience is his best asset. He can wait people out, then he can shoot a puck.”

Michael Fiedorczuk, assisted by Colten Nestler and Joel Hanson, cut it to 3-1 after one period, but Netusil and River Freeman scored for Minnesota in the second period.

Luke Hause, assisted by Greye Rampton and Joseph Yoon, and Yoon, assisted by Brady Engelkes and Hause, scored for Kenai River in the third period before Ben Roulette had an empty-netter.

“The third period was really good,” Shaw said. “We scored two goals and could have added another one.

“But you can’t give up three in the first six minutes of the game and expect to chase all night.”

Valdemar Anderson stopped 21 for the Wilderness. For Kenai River, Owen Zenone stopped 2 of 4 before yielding to Mitchell Mccusker, who had 15 saves on 18 shots.

Saturday, the Bears got off to a better start but faltered late.

After a scoreless first period, Luke Margenau scored on the power play in the second period for the Wilderness, but Rampton, assisted by Engelkes and Riley Mullen, had it tied headed to the third period.

Minnesota goalie Niklas Erickson, who had 37 saves, made a nice kick save in the final minute of the second period to keep it tied.

“That’s a skilled hockey team,” Stepan said of the Bears. “They play with some speed.

“I thought both of our goalies this week did a good job of making some timely, big saves that allowed us to start extending the lead a little bit.”

Jack Clarke, assisted by Mullen and Nestler, put the Bears up 2-1 early in the third, but Roulette tied it for the Wilderness with 15:20 to play.

Zach Homer gave the Wilderness the lead with 4:30 left, then Payton Struck and Ryan Warner tacked on goals in the final minute — Struck on an empty-netter.

Shaw said the Roulette and Homer goals came on defensive zone breakdowns.

Stepan said the key to both goals was moving the puck from one side of the ice to the other, then making a play out front.

“The biggest thing that helped us score two goals is just changing the eyes of the puck and working the width of the rink,” he said.

Leif Ekblad had 32 saves for the Bears.

Shaw said it’s tough to win hockey games when giving up 11 goals in two games. He also said the Bears have to start taking advantage of scoring chances out front.

“I’m a firm believer you generate your own puck luck,” Shaw said. “We’re not doing that right now.

“And we’re not keeping pucks out.”

The Bears host the Chippewa (Wisconsin) Steel on Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 7 to 9. The Thursday game is at 7 p.m., while the puck drops at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Friday

Wilderness 6, Brown Bears 3

Min 3 2 1 —6

Ken 1 0 2 —3

First period — 1. Minnesota, Netusil (Murray, Struck), 2:25. 2. Minnesota, Netusil (Margenau, Freeman), pp, 3:31. 3. Minnesota, Homer (Sylvester, A. Anderson), 4:16. 4. Kenai River, Fiedorczuk (Nestler, Hanson), 11:09. Penalties — Minnesota 5 for 21:00; Kenai River 5 for 31:00.

Second period — 5. Minnesota, Netusil (Sylvester, Struck), pp, 12:02. 6. Minnesota, Freeman (Lovecchio), 16:55. Penalties — Minnesota 2 for 4:00; Kenai River 4 for 8:00.

Third period — 7. Kenai River, Hause (Rampton, Yoon), 13:49. 8. Kenai River, Yoon (Engelkes, Hause), pp, 16:22. 9. Minnesota, Roulette (un.), en, 19:05.

Shots on goal — Minnesota 11-7-4—22; Kenai River 6-12-6—24.

Goalies — Minnesota, V. Anderson (24 shots, 21 saves); Kenai River, Zenone (4 shots, 2 saves), Mccusker (18 shots, 15 saves).

Saturday

Wilderness 5, Brown Bears 2

Min 0 1 4 —5

Ken 0 1 1 —2

First period — none. Penalties — Minnesota 1 for 2:00; Kenai River 1 for 2:00.

Second period — 1. Minnesota, Margenau (Netusil, Eagle), pp, 7:19. 2. Kenai River, Rampton (Engelkes, Mullen), 14:00. Penalties — Minnesota 1 for 2:00; Kenai River 2 for 4:00.

Third period — 3. Kenai River, Clarke (Mullen, Nestler), 3:14. 4. Minnesota, Roulette (Nagle, Freeman), 4:40; 5. Minnesota, Homer (Dziver, A. Anderson), 15:30. 6. Minnesota, Struck (Murray, Margenau), en, 19:23. 7. Minnesota, Warner (Roulette, Doll), 19:50. Penalties — Kenai River 1 for 2:00.

Shots on goal — Minnesota 12-11-14—37; Kenai River 9-15-15—39.

Goalies — Minnesota, Erickson (39 shots, 37 saves); Kenai River, Ekblad (35 shots, 32 saves).