Magicians edge Wilderness on Wednesday, 4-3

November 6, 2014

Minnesota Magicians 4 @ Minnesota Wilderness 3 – Nathan Krusko had a three-point night as the Magicians kept pace in the Midwest Division with a 4-3 road win in Cloquet against the Wilderness on Wednesday night in the lone game in the NAHL.

 

The Wilderness scored the lone goal of the 1st period as off a face-off, Krusko collected a rebound and put it past Wilderness goalie Ryan Anderson.

 

The teams combined for five goals in the 2nd period. Krusko gave the Magicians a 2-0 lead as he converted on a nice 2 on 1 pass from Marc Michaelis. Darian Romanko got the Wilderness on the board four minutes later as he one-timed a centering pass from Niklas Lehtimaki to cut the Magicians lead to 2-1.  Later in the 2nd period, the Wilderness would tie the game at 2-2 on a goal from Brett Heikkila, as he was left alone in front of the Magicians net and after two saves from Cole Weaver, Heikkila put home a rebound.  It didn’t take long for the Magicians to recapture the lead as Kane Durment came down the right side and fired a shot past Anderson for a 3-2 lead. The Wilderness would again answer to tie the game at 3-3 as Billy Exell scored a shorthanded goal as he intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and raced in on a breakaway, beating Weaver to the low glove side.

 

With the score tied at 3-3 in the 3rd period, the Magicians would get the game winner from Lukas Laub as he walked through two Wilderness defenders with some nifty stickhandling and beat Anderson through the legs for the winner.

 

Weaver made 29 saves in the win for the Magicians in his first career NAHL start. Less than a month ago, Weaver was playing for the Omaha AAA 16U team in the NAPHL. Anderson made 20 saves in the loss.