What had all the makings of a potential letdown spot was everything but, as the Gillette Wild turned in a dominating performance sweeping a series over Bozeman this past weekend. With the pair of victories, 7-0 on Friday and 9-0 Saturday, Gillette moved back atop of the NA3HL standings, and furthered their lead in the Frontier Division.
Gillette could have been looking forward to their trip to Helena this upcoming weekend. The last leg of their three consecutive weekend trips to Montana will be to face the only division opponent they haven’t seen this season. The Bighorns sit second in the division, six points behind the Wild. But with all that said, Gillette didn’t just not lose focus on the Icedogs, they delivered the best road trip performance in the Coach Hayes era.
Gillette was perfect between the pipes. Friday night, Jake Turek stopped all 18 shots he faced, before Cole Wheaton turned away all 17 shots he saw on Saturday. Turek has now recorded three shutouts this season and over his last three starts has stopped 63-of-64 shots thrown his way. For Wheaton it was his first shutout and his record moves to 7-1 in starts this season.
The Wild offense was firing on all cylinders. Gillette has now scored 140 goals in 22 games, and continues to lead the league being the only club to average over six goals a night. JP Johnson scored a pair of goals over the weekend to maintain his spot leading the league with 25 goals. Johnson is second in points in the league with 45, one point behind Atlanta’s Nick Jameus 46.
Isaac Young recorded six points, including a hat trick on Saturday night. Young is now third in points in the league with 42.