By Kevin Scott
GREAT FALLS, Mont., October 19, 2013 — The Great Falls Americans scored six of their seven goals in the first and second periods to capture their eighth consecutive win and remain the only team undefeated in the American West Hockey League. Great Falls held the Yellowstone (WY) Quake to just three goals in a 7-3 decision on Saturday night at home.
It hasn’t happened very often during this season but the Americans found themselves down 2-0 twelve minutes into the opening period as Yellowstone’s Jimmy Tich and Sawyer Scanlan each scored for the Quake. Both goals happened in a 45 second span. Great Falls would bounce back as Steven Goran’s goal with 4:26 to play and Zach Mese added another as the puck got by Yellowstone goaltender Rocco Yapello nineteen second later to tie the AWHL contest at 2-2. Dylan Garton and Austin Krantz were credited with assists for Goran’s goal and Cody Page assisted on Mese’s score. The Americans climbed back on top before the end of the period when Connor Barta found Erik Gatson for the score to give the Great Falls squad their first lead of the night with 2:38 to go.
Great Falls received power play goals from Lucas Lomax, Erik Gatson, and Connor Barta during the second period. Gatson finished the night with 2 goals and two assists. Great Falls outshot the Cody, Wyoming team 18-10.
In the third period, Yellowstone’s Tommy Toohey found the back of the net on a power play to cut the Quake’s deficit to 6-3 before Lucas Lomax scored the final points for the Americans. Great Falls recorded four power play goals on the night.
Yellowstone could not stop the Americans from getting the pucks in the net as Great Falls connected on 7-of-their 34 shots on goal. Erik Powell, the Americans goaltender, made 17 saves in 60 minutes of action while Rocco Yapello rejected 27 shots for the Quake.
The undefeated Americans (8-0) never trailed the Yellowstone Quake (3-6-1) after the first period.
NEXT CONTEST: Great Falls will travel for only the second time this season as they head to Whitefish, MT to face the Glacier Nationals on Sunday, October 20th beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Stumptown Ice Den.
| Period 1 | Period 2 | Period 3 | Final | |
| Great Falls | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| Yellowstone | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
First Period – 1, Yellowstone, Jimmy Tich (power play) (assists by Sawyer Scanlan, Tommy Toohey), 12:35. 2, Yellowstone, Sawyer Scanlan (power play) (Tommy Toohey, Jimmy Tich), 13:20. 3, Great Falls, Steven Goran (Dylan Garton, Austin Krantz), 15:34. 4, Great Falls, Zachary Mese (Cody Page), 15:53. 5, Great Falls, Erik Gatson (Connor Barta), 17:22.
Second Period – 6, Great Falls, Lucas Lomax (power play) (Connor Barta, Erik Gatson), 6:07. 7, Great Falls, Erik Gatson (power play) (Lucas Lomax, Steven Goran), 11:07. 8, Great Falls, Connor Barta (power play) (Brady Christiaens, Dylan Garton), 15:36.
Third Period – 9, Yellowstone, Tommy Toohey (power play) (Edison Elder, Jimmy Tich), 1:48. 10, Great Falls, Lucas Lomax (power play) (Aaron McInnis, Erik Gatson), 11:56.
Shots on Goal – Great Falls 34, Yellowstone 20.
Power-play Opportunities – Great Falls 4-for-9, Yellowstone 3-for-9.
Attendance – 585.
Box Score: Yellowstone @ Glacier
| Final | Great Falls Iceplex Sat, Oct 19, 2013 7:30 PM MST |
 Yellowstone 3 |
 Great Falls 7 |
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