The Aberdeen Wings not only punched their ticket into the NAHL playoffs, they earned home-ice advantage in the opening round, with a 7-3 win over the St. Cloud Norsemen Saturday night at the Odde Ice Center.
The Wings vaulted from a tie for third into the second place position in the Central Division with their victory and a Minot loss. After playing St. Cloud in four straight games to conclude the regular season, Aberdeen will now face the Norsemen in the opening round of the postseason starting Friday.
The Wings used a four-goal third period to put the game away after being tied at 3-3 early in the final frame. The period began with the Norsemen tying the game on a questionable goal with 18:48 left. Wings coach Scott Langer said the goal could have deflated his team and changed the outcome of the game.
“When they called that one a goal, obviously it could have been a real difference in the game where our bench got deflated, but it felt like our guys just rallied and they stayed tough, they stayed to the plan, and obviously, at the end, we were able to (score) some goals,” Langer said.
Instead of panicking, the Wings rallied with a goal by Patrick O’Connell with 10:38 to go. That was followed up by two goals in 29 seconds, one by O’Connell with 4:38 remaining, and the other by Dylan Wegner with 4:09 left. Nikolai Tishkevich finished off the scoring with a goal with 1:32 left to cap the win.
Langer said the leaders on the team stepped up when it needed the leadership most.
“(Landon) Parker came to the bench and said ‘Don’t worry about it. We’re good. We’re good,’” Langer said. “That’s the leadership we’ve been fighting for all year. O’Connell scored three goals tonight. (Owen) Dubois, last night, four goals. Those guys are veteran guys that need to be carrying our team and they did this weekend.”
The contest began with a back-and-forth affair in the first period, as the Wings scored first with a goal by Jordan Ronn with 13:51 remaining. The Norsemen answered back quickly with a goal by Andrew Cumming to knot the game up at 1-1. The Wings scored again on a goal by Luke Lindsay to take a 2-1 lead into the second period.
Langer said the lead at the end of the first period allowed the team to settle in.
“It was good to come out of there with a lead,” Langer said. “They’re a good hockey team, and we were able to score. That was a big goal by Lindsay to put us up 2-1 and give us the ability to kind of settle into the game.”
The second period was similar to the first, with Aberdeen scoring on a goal by Alexander Gullichsen with 18:08 left. The Norsemen answered back with a goal by Tyler Dysart and controlled the puck for much of the period. Langer was pleased to see that his team did not get worn down defensively in the second period.
“I didn’t think it wore us down, because we were playing four lines, so it certainly could, but it didn’t,” Langer said.
Despite the Norsemen’s momentum, the Wings held a 3-2 advantage after two periods, setting up the exciting final period.
The Wings now turn their attention to the playoffs, where they will host St. Cloud starting on Friday night at the Odde Ice Center. Langer was pleased with how his team rallied down the stretch to get to where it is now.
“We went through a real rough patch, and it was very uncertain for a while,” Langer said. “We went from second place down to fifth and we just had to battle our way back, and it came down to the very last game and we found a way to win it. We’ve won four in a row now, and we had gotten swept at home, so, again we could have packed it in and we didn’t.”
To see a box score from Saturday’s contest, click on the following link:
