Goaltenders are leading the way for the Wilderness
Currently the two-time defending Superior International Junior Hockey League champion Wilderness boasts the best record in the SIJHL at 33-3-0-1, which is due in part to the solid goaltending tandem of Gordie Defiel and JoJo Jeanetta.By: Press release, Pine Journal
- Good goalies
A team with a good goaltender has an opportunity to win every night so a club with two solid netminders to choose from really has to like its chances.
Cloquet’s Minnesota Wilderness boasts such a luxury in two No. 1 puck stoppers – and their record shows it.
Currently the two-time defending Superior International Junior Hockey League champion Wilderness boasts the best record in the SIJHL at 33-3-0-1, which is due in part to the solid goaltending tandem of Gordie Defiel and JoJo Jeanetta.
Entering play this week the 19-year-old Defiel, who hails from Stillwater, Minn., sports a record of 18-1-0-1 with a stingy 1.47 goals-against average and solid .941 save percentage.
As for Jeanetta, the 20-year-old Duluth native has been equally as solid, registering a 15-2-0-0 record along with a 1.61 average and a league-best .942 save mark.
“Our goaltending has been tremendous,” said Rod Aldoff, Wilderness general manager and head coach. “Both Gordie and JoJo push themselves and each other every day and we are very fortunate to have two goalies we can go to every night.”
While Defiel and Jeanetta sit one-two in both average and save percentage, they also lead the entire Canadian Junior Hockey League in each respective category as well, among those netminders who have seen at least 900 minutes of game action so far this
season.
It is those numbers that help see the Wilderness currently rated No. 2 overall in the latest CJHL Top 20 rankings, which are compiled each week in conjunction with NHL Central Scouting.
“They’re both No. 1 goalies who will be depended upon to be the backbone of our march toward a championship,” added Aldoff, who has guided his squad to a 122-15-9-3 record in two and half seasons in the SIJHL.
Each of the previous three goalkeepers to suit up for the Wilderness the last two seasons were pivotal in helping back stop the club to back-to-back SIJHL titles.
That trio of netminders have all moved on to play NCAA hockey. John McLean, Jake Hebda and Tanner Milliron are on the rosters of Gustavus Aldophus (MIAC), Concordia (Wisconsin) (MCHA) and Wisconsin-River Falls (NCHA),
respectively.
Both McLean and Milliron went on to capture SIJHL top goaltender laurels, joining the likes of former award recipients Carter Hutton (Rockford, AHL), Ryan Faragher (St. Cloud State, WCHA) and Drew Strandberg (Wisconsin-Superior, NCHA) to garner those same accolades.
Story courtesy of the Superior International Junior Hockey League
Tags: minnesota wild, sports, updates
More from around the web
RSS Feeds