Windigo grab momentum again with sweep of Bears

The Wisconsin Windigo opened the new year by grabbing momentum again after a sweep of the Kenai River Brown Bears Jan. 3-4 at the Historic Eagle River Dome.
Before the two wins, Wisconsin finished 2024 with losses in five of its last six games.
During the series-opening win, Braydon Beahm scored his 24th goal of the year, which ranks second in the North American Hockey League (NAHL).
Wisconsin is now 22-8-1-2 and sits in first place in the Midwest Division ahead of the Anchorage Wolverines.
“It was great to get back to our winning ways after struggling a bit over our last few series. Having some of our players return to the lineup was an immense help,” said Windigo head coach John Mitchell. “We got scoring from six different players this weekend, which was great to see.”

Brown Bears 2, Windigo 5

In the Windigo’s first game since Dec. 21, the offense got on the board first late in the opening period. With only a combined 13 shots in the first, Alexios Georgaklis took advantage of his one and lit the lamp at 15:18 for the 1-0 lead.
With a 1-0 lead heading into the second, the Windigo made it what was thought to be a commanding 3-0 game with goals at 2:58 and 7:57 before Kenai River put its first on the board. The Brown Bears also netted a shorthanded tally at 8:04 of the third to get within one, 3-2, late in the game.
Beahm has been a premiere goal scorer for Wisconsin this year and came up big once again to take a 4-3 lead with less than five minutes to go in regulation. The Windigo defense held up with a big penalty kill and put the game to bed with an empty netter to take the 5-2 win.
“Our penalty kill was strong all weekend, especially on Friday, when we killed off a double minor late in the third period,” stated Mitchell.

Beau Altman got the win in net as he stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced.

Brown Bears 2, Windigo 3

It was another highly contested contest in game two, with the Brown Bears outshooting the Windigo 26-22 on the night.
Logan Nickolaus put Wisconsin on the board first, about nine minutes into the game, after finding himself all alone against the Brown Bear goalkeeper.
“It was great to see Logan Nickolaus regain his form after missing 13 games due to an injury. His three goals and two assists during the weekend were huge for us,” said Mitchell.

Kenai River answered shortly after that to tie things up at 1-1, as that was the score after one period. Luke Baker found a one-timer opportunity on his stick early in the second, where he capitalized on giving the Windigo a 2-1 advantage shortly after a powerplay expired.
With seven minutes left in the second, the Brown Bears took charge after a defensive zone turnover and knotted things up at 2-2.
Nickolaus scored his second of the night, and third of the weekend, and was the beneficiary of a rebound to put the Windigo in the lead for good.
Altman picked up his second consecutive win with 24 saves.
“Altman played well in net for us. It is important to have depth at goaltending, such that we don’t overburden any one goaltender,” explained Mitchell. “It is a long season and we need to make sure we have something left in the tank come playoffs.”
Up next for the Windigo are two games with the Minnesota Wilderness during Vintage weekend in Eagle River. Wisconsin will host a Thursday, Jan. 9 game, starting at 7 p.m. The Friday, Jan. 10, game will start at 7:30 p.m.