The Aberdeen Wings continued their winning ways on Saturday, but it won't be enough to qualify for the playoffs.
Aberdeen skated past the Coulee Region Chill 4-1 at the Odde Ice Center in a North American Hockey League contest. It was the Wings' eighth straight win, the longest active streak in the NAHL. It was Aberdeen's ninth straight home win, which is also the longest active streak in the league.
"It is the most fun I have ever had playing hockey," Aberdeen goalie Zach Nagelvoort said. "It is just unbelievable. All the guys are working together."
Unfortunately for the Wings, their playoff hopes were dashed on Saturday. Aberdeen needed Minot to lose its last three games to give the Wings a chance for the playoffs. Minot defeated Brookings 5-2 on Saturday.
"We can only control ourselves," Aberdeen coach Travis Winter said. "So we just worry about what we are doing."
For the second night in a row, the Wings controlled the Chill. Aberdeen outshot Coulee Region 39-36 and scored four unanswered goals after surrendering the first goal of the night. The Wings also went 2-for-3 on power-play chances, while denying the Chill on all six of their power-play opportunities.
"Defense played really well," Nagelvoort said. "Obviously there were a couple of big saves I had to make on some turnovers."
Nagelvoort had 35 saves on Saturday, while his fellow goalie and teammate Chad Catt had 24 saves on Friday.
"They have both been playing every other game for the last two months or so," Winter said. "They both have done a very, very good job. They have both given us a chance to win every night."
After the Chill netted the first goal, Aberdeen's Kyle Haak scored near the end of the first period to knot up the score at 1-all. Erik Baskin then scored twice in the second period to push Aberdeen's lead to 3-1. Baskin finished with five goals this weekend, including a hat trick on Friday.
"He has really been improving every week," Winter said. "It is really neat to see. He has the ability to be a dominant power forward and tonight he showed some signs of that."
Jonathan Grebosky added an insurance goal late in the third period to put an exclamation point on another fun night for the surging Wings.
What has been the difference for the Wings late in the season?
"I think it is strictly just been the second, third and fourth efforts," Nagelvoort said. "We somehow found motivation here in the home stretch."
Aberdeen improves to 22-29-7 on the season. The Wings will play at Brookings next Friday and then host Brookings the next night at the Odde Ice Center in the last game of the season.
Despite missing out on the playoffs, these Wings have turned some heads to close out the regular season.
"Our approach has always been the same since we started this together," Winter said. "Let's just try to improve every single week and we have done that, I think. The guys are getting a lot better and they are having a lot of fun doing it."
Coulee Region| 1 0 0--1
Aberdeen| 1 2 1--4
First Period: 1, Coulee Region, Garrett Henderson (James McGing, Derek Smith), 6:31; 2, Aberdeen, Kyle Haak (Jonathan Grebosky, Dylan Dailey), 3:07.
Second Period: 3, Aberdeen, Erik Baskin (Grebosky, Dailey), 4:06; 4, Aberdeen, Baskin (Patrick Steinhauser, Liam McGing), :06.
Third Period: 5, Aberdeen, Grebosky (Haak, Dailey), 5:18.
Goalies: Coulee Region, Tim Shaughnessy (39 shots, 35 saves); Aberdeen, Zach Nagelvoort (36 shots, 35 saves).
Attendance: 1,513
|FRIDAY'S GAME|
Coulee Region| 1 0 0--1
Aberdeen| 1 1 2--4
First Period: 1, Aberdeen, Erik Baskin (Kyle Haak, Jonathan Grebosky), 19:16; 2, Coulee Region, Eddie Matsushima (Jake Kauppila), 6:28.
Second Period: 3, Aberdeen, Justin Parizek (Colton Kramer, Jordan Heller), 2:16.
Third Period: 4, Aberdeen, Baskin (Grebosky), 18:52; 5, Aberdeen, Baskin (Dylan Dailey, Haak), 2:11.
Goalies: Coulee Region, Tim Shaughnessy (32 shots, 28 saves); Aberdeen, Chad Catt (25 shots, 24 saves).
Attendance: 1,362.