Wilderness take game 1 of Bill Salonen Cup final

Press Release

CLOQUET, Minn.  – The Minnesota Wilderness scored four times in the middle session to defeat the Fort Frances Lakers 5-1 Friday evening in game 1 of the Superior International Junior Hockey League’s Bill Salonen Cup final at Northwoods Credit Union Arena.

After a scoreless opening stanza struck for four tallies in the middle session to chase Fort Frances starter Talor Joseph after just over 36 minutes of action.

Nick Szopinski, Michael MacKinnon, Eric Carlson and Nick Sova put the Wilderness up 4-0 by the 16:08 mark of the session, which caused the Lakers to put Tanner Hamilton in net in favour of Joseph.

The move seemed to pay immediate dividends as Tyler Broderson dashed Gordy Defiel’s shutout bid with less than two minutes to play in the second.

However the lone goal of the final frame came off the stick of Szopinski, who picked up his second of the evening.

Zach Thielen picked up three assists to aid the offensive output for the Wilderness.

Defiel made 25 saves to improve to 5-0 in the playoffs for the Wilderness.

Joseph stopped 29 of 33 in suffering the loss while Hamilton kicked out 14 of 15 in relief.

Game 2 in this best-of-seven series goes Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at Ice for Kids Arena.

The SIJHL champion will advance to the Dudley-Hewitt Cup April 30 through May 4 in North Bay.

 (Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)