St. Cloud came away with a 2-0 victory Saturday with a power play goal and a shorthanded tally to defeat the Wisconsin Windigo and improve their record to 2-1-1 on the season.
The two teams played a rather uneventful first period with both teams having one power play chance and the shots going in favor of Wisconsin 7-5. The feeling out period would shift drastically in the second period as both teams would open up offensively.
Back-to-back penalties by the Windigo in the second period overlapped and while St. Cloud was unable to capitalize on the 37 seconds of 5-on-3 the Norsemen did strike before the hooking penalty to Cashen Naeve expired. Daniels Murnieks on the left-wing boards and Evan Pahos just inside the blue line played pitch and catch back and forth before Pahos let a shot go from the point as Hogan Sinjem skated across the bough of Maxwell Beckford. Sinjem tipped it just outside the crease and it floated over the shoulder of Beckford to give the Norsemen the lead at 4:28 of the period. The turning point of the game may have been when St. Cloud successfully killed off a 5-minute major eight and a half minutes into the frame and the Norsemen had another power play chance late in the period. With all that special teams play the second was filled with a lot more pucks to the net as St. Cloud outshot Wisconsin 23-14.
Both teams had two power play chances in the third but the defenses tightened down and only 9 shots on goal were put on by the two teams combined. Wisconsin pressed hard late in the game on the power play with their goalie pulled but St. Cloud buckled down and held tight. In desperation mode to kill off the last penalty Kade Peterson from one knee threw a puck off the glass on the right side that Duke Kiffin muscled out of the defensive zone into neutral ice. From there Tyler Dysart skated onto it with speed and dropped a pass to Peterson who had joined the rush and while Peterson was forced to the side and his backhand he was able to dump the puck into the empty net with 1:11 remaining. The Norsemen were able to withstand the last-minute pressure of the Windigo and prevailed with the 2-0 victory. The 28 save shutout was goaltender Will Ingemann’s first NAHL win in his second appearance and his record improves to 1-0-1 with a 0.96 goals against average and a 0.895 save percentage.
The Norsemen leave the Showcase with 5 points in the standings, a point behind Austin and North Iowa in the Central Standings with Austin’s final game of the Showcase not yet final at time of publication. Those Austin Bruins come to the MAC for St. Cloud’s home opener on Friday, September 23rd. The Norsemen are looking to Pack the MAC for the home opener and Miller Auto will select three lucky fans to have a chance to win $50,000 towards a new vehicle. Get your tickets online at https://tickets.stcloudnorsemen.com/.
Photo Credit: Pete Knutson