Wilderness Sweep Ice Dogs

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

The Minnesota Wilderness won their sixth straight playoff game and in the process became the first team in the NAHL to secure one of the four spots in the Robertson Cup Semi-Finals as they defeated the Fairbanks Ice Dogs, 6-3 in Game 3 in Fairbanks.

The Wilderness trailed in the game 3-0, but came back to score six unanswered goals to unseat the defending champions.

Late in the 1st period, the Ice Dogs jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead as they scored three goals in a span of less than two minutes.

Hans Gorowsky netted the first goal, Jacob Hetz the second and Tyler Tomberlin scored on the penalty shot to make it 3-0 after one period.

The Wilderness held strong and tied the game in the 2nd period with three goals, all courtesy of special teams. Michael Covach scored on the power play, as did Tyler Cline less than a minute later. Later in the period, Dan Litchke added a shorthanded goal to knot the game.

The game-winner would come late in the 3rd period thanks to the leading scorer in the NAHL playoffs, Darian Romanko, who scored the game-winner with six minutes remaining. Romanko added a second goal on an empty-net to make it 5-3 and Ian Mansfield capped off the win with another empty-net goal.

Brock Kautz made 28 saves in the win, while Patrick Munson took the loss, making 23 saves. Romanko ended up with five points on the night.