The Aberdeen Wings traveled to St. Cloud and left with another weekend sweep after defeating the Norsemen 4-1 Saturday night inside the St. Cloud Municipal Athletic Complex.
The Wings improve to 41-3-0-1 on the season, claiming 83 points overall. The Norsemen fall to 14-26-0-1.
It was a quiet first period — Aberdeen took eleven shots on goal compared to eight from St. Cloud, but the two teams headed into the first intermission tied 0-0.
Spencer Schneider got the scoring started for the Wings at the 4:37 mark in the second period, skating in to score his 22nd goal of the season with the assist from Liam Fraser, who notched his 15th apple. Less than three minutes later, however, the Norsemen tied the game on a goal from Logan Kittleson.
From that point on, it was all Aberdeen, who put away three more goals in just over four minutes.
At the 10:51 mark, Will Arquiett stole the puck and fired one from goal crease to put away his tenth of the season, assisted by Jake Goldowski and Michael Reed. Just over a minute later, defenseman Jakob Stender got his fourth goal of the year, firing deep from the blue line to give the Wings the two-point cushion. He was assisted by Devon Carlstrom and Schneider. The game’s final goal came at the 15:03 mark when Fraser picked up a rebound and dumped it in, claiming his 14th goal on the year. He was helped by Schneider, who notched his 15th assist on the season, and Clay Cosentino, who notched his league-leading 38th.
The Wings outshot the Norsemen 17-8 in the middle period to gain the 4-1 lead. After outshooting the Norsemen again in the third period, the Wings skated away with the victory and the sweep.
“The second period, we started to make plays,” Wings head coach and general manager Scott Langer said. “When you make the plays, you get good chances. I thought our first period was a slow start, but we responded in the second.”
Overall, the Wings took 36 shots on goal compared to 21 from the Norsemen. Wings goalie Jake Sibell stopped 20 of the 21 shots sent his way, while St. Cloud’s Paxton Geisel stopped 32 of 36. Langer said tonight’s effort was a good rebound from a mid-week loss.
“It was good that we responded the right way coming off Tuesday’s result,” he said. “We got back to doing some things the right way. We have a solid group in our locker room and they believe in one another.”
Aberdeen is back in action at the Odde on Friday, April 16 against the Bismarck Bobcats. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the puck hits the ice at 7:15 p.m. Tickets can be purchased ahead of the game at tickets.AberdeenWings.com. You can also purchase $10 general admission tickets at any of the four C-Express locations in Aberdeen, with additional purchase.
It’s a home-and-home weekend, so the Wings will travel to Bismarck on Saturday April 17 to play the Bobcats inside the VFW Sports Center. Fans can watch that game using their HockeyTV login or live at Buffalo Wings & Rings in Aberdeen. The game’s audio will be broadcast on Hub City Radio’s 94.1 The Rock.
“Bismarck is a tough opponent and playing good hockey,” Langer said ahead of the weekend. “This week needs to be a solid week of preparation leading into Friday.”