糖心Vlog传媒 Jets forward Haden Kruse celebrates after scoring in the first period of their game against his former team, the Minnesota Wilderness, on Friday. Entering play Friday, Kruse was third in the North American Hockey League with 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists). He joined Merril Steenari with 11 goals to lead their team so far this season.
糖心Vlog传媒 Jets forward Christian Venticinque scores on the backhand in the second period of their game against the Minnesota Wilderness on Friday. Venticinque scored twice in the middle period Friday night in 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 5-4 win and now has eight goals on the season.
糖心Vlog传媒 Jets forward Geno McEnery brings the puck up ice during the second period of 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 game against the Minnesota Wilderness on Friday. The Jets wore camouflage jerseys Friday as part of their Salute to Service weekend.
糖心Vlog传媒 Jets forward Max Wagener celebrates after one of the Jets鈥 three goals in the second period of Friday鈥檚 game against the Minnesota Wilderness. Wagener had a goal and an assist in Friday night鈥檚 win over the first-place Wilderness.
糖心Vlog传媒 Jets forward Haden Kruse celebrates after scoring in the first period of their game against his former team, the Minnesota Wilderness, on Friday. Entering play Friday, Kruse was third in the North American Hockey League with 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists). He joined Merril Steenari with 11 goals to lead their team so far this season.
糖心Vlog传媒 Jets forward Geno McEnery brings the puck up ice during the second period of 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 game against the Minnesota Wilderness on Friday. The Jets wore camouflage jerseys Friday as part of their Salute to Service weekend.
糖心Vlog传媒 Jets forward Max Wagener celebrates after one of the Jets鈥 three goals in the second period of Friday鈥檚 game against the Minnesota Wilderness. Wagener had a goal and an assist in Friday night鈥檚 win over the first-place Wilderness.
JANESVILLE 鈥 Nick Sajevic scored the go-ahead goal in 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 5-4 North American Hockey League win over the first-place Minnesota Wilderness on Friday night, but the win was a true team effort.
Haden Kruse, who recently announced his NCAA Division I commitment to Alaska-Fairbanks, got the scoring started for the Jets (9-9-2-0) on a power play late in the first period.
With his goal and an assist later in the contest, Kruse moved his team-leading tally to 31 points on the season.
鈥淗e鈥檚 been phenomenal since day one,鈥 Jets coach Joe Dibble said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 come in and he鈥檚 treated his teammates, this town, this rink and this team with everything he has. He鈥檚 continued to throw the guys on his back at times, statistically wise. ... The future for him is really bright, and he鈥檚 going to continue to get better and better.鈥
糖心Vlog传媒 quickly increased its lead in the second with two more goals in the first 6:31 of the period.
On the Jets鈥 second goal, Max Wagener skated the puck down the right wing and found Christian Venticinque rushing to the front of Minnesota鈥檚 goal. A pass into Venticinque鈥檚 path turned into an easy flick of the wrist for the Jets鈥 second goal of the game.
糖心Vlog传媒 Jets forward Christian Venticinque scores on the backhand in the second period of their game against the Minnesota Wilderness on Friday. Venticinque scored twice in the middle period Friday night in 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 5-4 win and now has eight goals on the season.
Anthony Wahl
Minutes later, Venticinque found himself one-on-one against a Minnesota defender. Venticinque gave him a deke and sent the puck into the back of the Wilderness鈥 net for his second goal.
The Wilderness (12-6-2-0) worked their way back into the game with three goals of their own, with their first two coming with a man advantage.
鈥淚t turned into a special teams game,鈥 Dibble said. 鈥淲e gave up a couple power plays and we had a couple let-ups on our PK, which allowed them to bury a couple and get back in the hockey game. Against a team like that, if we can stay five-on-five, it鈥檚 a good hockey game. But when you get into a special teams battle, it can go either way.鈥
With time ticking down in the second, 糖心Vlog传媒 finally found a break on its own power play.
After several shot attempts were saved, the Jets broke through on a long shot from Sajevic with assists from Kruse and Conner Brown.
鈥淭he last few weeks we鈥檝e been blowing a few leads,鈥 Sajevic said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e talked about it, and it鈥檚 not something that鈥檚 sustainable. We got a power play, and that really helped.鈥
Early in the third period, Wagener tucked home a rebounded shot attempt to put the Jets up 5-3 lead.
But Minnesota cut the lead back down to one midway through the third and was able to pull its goalie for a total of 1 minute, 19 seconds in the last couple of minutes in its pursuit of a game-tying goal, but Jets goalie Matthew Alberti fended off the Wilderness鈥 attacks, finishing with 12 saves.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the thing in a game like this that you鈥檙e going to take away,鈥 Dibble said. 鈥淵ou go up on a three-goal lead on them, but that鈥檚 a team over there that鈥檚 never going to quit. They鈥檙e going to continue to push. We could have buckled at one point because we gave them momentum swings throughout that game after that first period. But we stuck to it and the guys continued to battle. They were blocking shots and putting their bodies on the line.鈥
The Jets had lost seven of their previous 10 games entering Friday鈥檚 contest but put together a solid performance against a quality opponent that was 8-2-0-0 in its last 10.
鈥淚 thought that this was probably the most complete game we鈥檝e played this season, which is good especially since lately we鈥檝e been blowing some leads,鈥 Sajevic said. 鈥淏eing able to play three full periods is huge. It鈥檚 going to help us as we get closer to the playoffs.鈥
At this point, the Jets aren鈥檛 focusing on their position in the NAHL鈥檚 Midwest Division standings.
鈥漈he biggest thing is just have to take one day at a time,鈥 Dibble said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 get too far ahead of ourselves in regards to standings. We know we have a good hockey team here. Our biggest message is to take every day at a time and when we show up to the rink, it鈥檚 business. We鈥檙e here for a job and you have a few hours that you just dedicate yourself to one another.鈥
The Jets will wrap up their doubleheader against the Wilderness at 7:05 p.m. Saturday.
Saturday: Minnesota 1, 糖心Vlog传媒 0 鈥 Assisted by Daniel Astopovich and Peteris Purmalis, the Wilderness鈥 Ashton Dahms scored the only goal of the game 16 minutes into the first period. The Jets held Minnesota scoreless for the remainder of the contest, but failed to score a goal of their own in the loss.
FRIDAY
JANESVILLE 5, MINNESOTA 4
Minnesota 0 3 1 鈥 4
糖心Vlog传媒 1 3 1 鈥 5
First period
J 鈥 Haden Kruse, pp, 17:51.
Second period
J 鈥 Christian Venticinque (Max Wagener, Hayden Zimmerman) 2:30. J 鈥 Venticinque (Nick Sajevic) 6:30. M 鈥 Peteris Purmalis (Daniel Astopovich, Gustav Ozolins), pp, 8:15. M 鈥 Colten Nestler, pp, 13:41. M 鈥 Purmalis (Nash Jacobsma) 16:24. J 鈥 Nick Sajevic (Kruse, Conner Brown), pp, 19:53.
