ABERDEEN, SD (AberdeenWings.com) –
FRIDAY
St. Cloud Norsemen
Aberdeen Wings 5-3
The Aberdeen Wings bid farewell to 2021 on a high note Friday night, skating to a 5-3 win over the St. Cloud Norsemen in front of over 1,500 dedicated fans.
It was the third game in a row that the two teams have faced each other — the Wings took a 3-2 shootout win back on Dec. 17 before falling 4-0 on Dec. 18. After an extended break for the holiday and facing the same opponent, Wings head coach Steve Jennings wanted his team to get out early — and that’s just what they did.
The Norsemen got the puck following the opening faceoff and skated into the Wings’ zone, but Jacob Bosse intercepted the puck and passed it out to Ronan Walsh near center ice. He fed it cross-ice to Owen DuBois, who skated in and fired from the middle of the circle and into the back of the net just 17 seconds into the game. DuBois picked up his third goal on the year, while Walsh grabbed his fifth assist and Bosse racked up his 16th.
At the 5:51 mark and in the Norsemen zone once again, Bauer Barry took a pass near the net from Will Diamond and fed it out to Hugo Gustafsson, who fired the one-timer over the shoulder of St. Cloud goaltender Tomas Bolo to give the Wings the 2-0 lead. It was the Swedish defenseman’s third goal on the season, while Barry and Diamond each grabbed their first assists wearing the Wings’ sweater.
After coincidental roughing penalties lead to four-on-four hockey, St. Cloud got back within one when Evan Murr shot one past Wings netminder Dominik Wasik at the 12:32 mark. But the Wings answered back with time ticking down — that’s when Devon Carlstrom fired a rocket from near the blue line, which bounced off the back wall near a waiting Landry Schmuck, who grabbed the bounce from his knees and snuck the puck between Bolo’s legs to put his team back up by two with nine seconds left in the period. It was Schmuck’s seventh goal on the year, while Carlstrom grabbed his fifth assist and Wings captain Kyle Gaffney grabbed his 17th.
The Wings outshot the Norsemen 12-10, with three shots being successful — and nine different players putting up points in the process — while going 0-2 on the power play, and they headed into the first break leading 3-1.
“It was huge,” Jennings said of the first period following the game. “We needed that right away. When we start that way we’re really good, and it sets the tempo, which is great.”
St. Cloud tried to stage a comeback, starting with a goal from Nik Hong just 47 seconds into the middle period. But Aberdeen answered back just over three minutes later — Bolo had the puck behind his own net and tried passing it out, but Seamus Campbell was there to intercept and put it into a wide open net for the 4-2 lead. The eventual game-winner was his eighth goal of the season, while Schmuck got his fifth assist and Gaffney notched his second of the game and 18th overall.
The Norsemen got one more in the middle stanza when Christoper Lynch got his first goal at the 13:33 mark. St. Cloud took 16 shots while holding the Wings to 10, neither team took a penalty, and they skated into the final intermission with Aberdeen leading 4-3.
St. Cloud killed off a third penalty to open the final period and the Wings kept their one-goal cushion with back-and-forth gameplay for the majority of the period. At the 15:22 mark, Aberdeen found themselves on the penalty kill for the first time in the game — and at the 17:00 mark, took a second penalty, which led to five-on-three hockey for 22 seconds.
But the league’s top penalty-killing unit staved off the attack, then killed the second penalty, even with St. Cloud pulling Bolo from net to give themselves the six-on-four advantage. Just seven seconds after they killed the penalty, DuBois found himself in a footrace for a loose puck, which he grabbed and fired from the blue line and into the empty St. Cloud net. The insurance goal was his second of the game, fourth overall, while Chase Davis notched his sixth assist.
The Wings were able to stave off a strong Norsemen attack for 53 seconds and took the 5-3 win when the final horn sounded. St. Cloud took plenty of shots, especially with a two-man advantage for nearly three minutes, taking 12 while holding the Wings to just six.
Overall, the Norsemen scored three times on 38 shots, while the Wings took just 28 shots. For Jennings, the types of shots the Wings took is what set them apart Friday night.
“We talked about the shots we wanted to generate and the guys did a good job hitting those shots,” he said. “That third goal was important since it was a rebound goal. Our guys stood tall in front of the net tonight and finished.”
After a long holiday break, Friday’s lineup wasn’t exactly what Jennings had envisioned. The league’s leading points-earner, Cade Neilson, ran into issues returning from his holiday at home in England and wasn’t back in Aberdeen when the game started. But Jennings said his team was prepared to fill the void and adjust with an important body missing from the equation.
“I thought it was good,” he said of the team’s response. “We didn’t have Cade in the lineup due to travel issues, and we didn’t have MacKay at 100 percent, but we had a bunch of guys who stepped up. It was a bit of a different lineup for us but it proved that we can play with anyone as long as we play the right way.”
Aberdeen went 0-3 on the power play, but once again stayed perfect on the penalty kill, staving off both Norsemen advantages. Wasik denied 35 of the 38 shots he saw en route to his eighth win of the season. Overall, eleven Wings added to their points totals in the win.
SATURDAY
St. Cloud Norsemen
Aberdeen Wings 2-1
The Aberdeen Wings rang in the new year with a weekend sweep over the visiting St. Cloud Norsemen, taking a 2-1 victory Saturday night inside the Odde Ice Center. The big win came after a 5-3 win on Friday, and the Wings took home four coveted league points in a very tight Central Division.
Things started off very slowly for Aberdeen — in fact, the Norsemen took nine shots before the Wings were able to fire one. But after killing off their second penalty in the opening period, Chase Davis came out of the box and immediately tapped the puck up the ice to Cade Neilson, who tore off on a breakaway and beat St. Cloud netminder Ethan Dahlmeir on the backhand on the Wings’ first shot of the game at the 12:21 mark. Neilson, playing in his first game since the holiday break, notched his 16th goal of the season, while Davis grabbed his seventh assist.
The Norsemen tied things up at the 18:49 mark when Ryan O’Neill found the open backdoor. Aberdeen killed off three penalties in the first period and were outshot 15-3, but nonetheless skated into the first break looking at a tie game.
Aberdeen got a few more shots off on goal to start the middle stanza after a Norsemen penalty. With just over 30 seconds remaining on the power play, Hugo Allais fed the puck from the blue line to Seamus Campbell, who fired from the middle of the circle over the shoulder of Dahlmeir. It was Campbell’s second goal on the weekend, his ninth overall, while Allais grabbed his ninth assist and Landry Schmuck tallied his sixth.
Each team killed off another penalty during the period and the Wings closed the gap in shots on goal, taking 14 while holding St. Cloud to just seven. With 22 seconds remaining in the period, Will Diamond received two stacked penalties totaling seven minutes. The Wings killed off the penalty to head into the final break with the 2-1 lead, but faced over six-and-a-half minutes to kill to open the final period.
The Wings killed the penalty for three minutes before St. Cloud took a penalty of their own, leading to four-on-four hockey for two minutes. After the Norsemen returned to full strength, the Wings’ top penalty-killing unit finished their job flawlessly. That was the only penalty in the third period, and the Wings held off a final extra-man advantage when Dahlmeir was pulled from between the pipes with two minutes left in regulation.
“It was absolutely monstrous, especially the duration that we went through at the end of the second and into the third,” Wings head coach Steve Jennings said of his special teams unit. “They had the opportunity to build momentum but our guys rose to the occasion. Our power play goal, getting back into our normal, was really important for us. Game winner.”
When the dust settled, the Wings went 1-2 on the power play while holding the Norsemen to 0-6 and improving to a league-high 90.9 percent on the kill.
Overall, St. Cloud outshot the Wings 34-27. Dominik Wasik was solid in net for Aberdeen, denying 33 of the 34 shots sent his way.
“Dom was tremendous tonight,” Jennings said. “He gave us the game we needed. We didn’t play badly, but just didn’t make plays with little offensive zone time making it hard for ourselves. Dom rose to the occasion and gave us the chance to stay in it.”
The Wings improved to 16-12-0-2 on the year and grabbed their second home sweep of the season. Getting back into the win column — twice — in front of their home crowd was something Jennings was very happy to see.
“We talked to the kids about how this weekend was big,” he said. “Reestablishing and getting guys comfortable winning at home, and sweeping a team who has games in hand on us, was huge. It was great.”
Over the weekend, Campbell notched two goals while Davis, Schmuck and Kyle Gaffney notched two assists apiece. Thirteen different Wings players added points to their name, while Wasik stopped an impressive 68-72. Neilson remains the NAHL’s top points-earner with 44 points, which come from 16 goals and 28 assists.
Coach Jennings wanted to applaud one name that wasn’t on the score sheet. “Jaxon Grosdidier is a tendered player who will be here next year,” he said of the 2004 forward from Sioux Falls, SD. “He had some big hits, high energy on the bench and set up some great scoring opportunities. He was great.”
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