The Gillette Wild continued its winning streak over the weekend and they now have eight straight wins following a sweep of the Missoula Junior Bruins.
Gillette (8-1) beat Missoula 5-2 and 4-2 in Missoula to solidify their second-place standing in the North American 3 Hockey League’s Frontier Division, behind the undefeated Bozeman Ice Dogs.
Wild forward Jacob Kaminski scored two goals to ensure the sweep over Missoula on Saturday night. Kaminski netted the first goal of the night with fewer than 4 minutes played in the second period, then capped scoring with 11 seconds left to play to make it 4-2.
Wild defenseman Ethan Becker scored to give the Wild a 3-0 lead early in the third period before the Bruins’ Zane Cluphf netted two to make the deficit one goal in the final minutes.
Anthony Seykora started in the net for the Wild and saved 29 of 31 shots.
In the series opener, Wild leading scorer Declan Young tallied two goals and an assist and defenseman Danny Ramos scored two goals himself to lead the team to its seventh straight win 5-2.
Ramos scored the first goal of the game with 14:26 to play in the first period before Missoula’s Trevor Prince answered late in the frame. Kaminski and Young each scored in the second period to take a 3-1 lead headed into the final period.
Prince scored again in the first minutes of the third period. Then Ramos and Young each scored within a minute of each other to take a 5-2 lead that the Junior Bruins didn’t have an answer for.
Young has 11 goals and seven assists through nine games this season, averaging two points per game.
Wild goaltender Shane Phillips started Friday’s game and stopped 24 of 26 shots faced.
The last time the Wild and the Bruins faced off, the Wild took more than 100 minutes worth of penalties and gave up six shorthanded goals.
Over the weekend, the Wild took 28 minutes worth of penalties and the Bruins scored two of their four goals on the power play.
Gillette is scheduled to play at 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday against the Butte Cobras at Spirit Hall Ice Arena in Gillette.
The last time the Wild played the Cobras in early October on the road, they won 6-2 and 9-2.
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