They knew they’d know it when they saw it, and this weekend Gillette Wild hockey fans seen it.
It was three straight periods of dominating hockey, and the Wild did it twice, sweeping the Sheridan Hawks. Gillette beat Sheridan 13-4 on Friday night at Spirit Hall Ice Arena before an 11-2 victory on Saturday night at the Whitney Rink in the M&M Center.
“Anytime you have a weekend where you score 24 goals, it’s not going to be a negative weekend,” Gillette Head Coach Ethan Hayes said. “Truthfully, from my point of view, we still have a lot to work on if we want to go accomplish the national championship goal.”
With the four point weekend came a little more separation for Gillette at the top of the Frontier Standings. The Wild now have a four point lead over second place Helena. Both teams have played 16 times this season.
Gillette now sits second in the NA3HL League Standings two points behind West Division leaders Granite City, and one point in front of the East Division leading Northeast Generals.
Anthony Foster scored the first of three goals he would collect over the weekend, in the first minute of Friday nights game, before Sheridan would respond tying the game just past the midway point of the first period. Isaac Young would score one of the two goals he scored over the weekend, to put Gillette back out front late in the first period.
Sheridan scored twice early in the second climbing back out front, before a barrage of Gillette goals would blow the game open. Ryan Hipsag, Adam Severson, Alec Waller, and JP Johnson all scored in the second and before the period expired the Wild were out front 6-3 and they never looked back.
Foster, Johnson, Wylie Gladen, Saizha Norwegian, Zach Slinger, Johnson again, and Sky Solig would all score third period goals to finish off the route.
Saturday night was more of the same, as Gillette scored the first five goals. Slinger, Solig, Remington Richardson, Todd Powassin, and Johnson all found the back of the net before a Sheridan goal with just under four minutes left in the second got the Hawks on the board.
Norwegian back-to-back, Johnson, Young, Solig, and Foster would finish off the scoring for Gillette in the third.
Cole Wheaton got the win in net for Gillette on Friday night stopping 38-42 shots he faced. Wheaton is now 5-1 on the season saving 180-198 shots seen.
Dominic Hite took the win Saturday night stopping 21-23 shots. Hite is now 4-0 on the year having stopped 135-142 shots he has seen.
Gillette will be back home this weekend for a series with the Badlands Sabres.