NOTE: A Special Thanks to Michael Noel (above, https://mnoelphotography.smugmug.com) for providing the photos.
By Kevin Scott
| Box Score |
Score Sheet | League Scoreboard | Americans Team Statistics |
GREAT FALLS, Mont., March 7, 2026 — The Great Falls Americans (30-14-2-1) have played 47 regular season games during the 2025-26 North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) as the season comes to a close.
For four other teams in the Frontier Division (Bozeman Ice Dogs, Gillette (WY) Wild, Yellowstone (WY) Quake and the Americans opponent in Saturday’s home finale, the Butte Irish), their season has been completed and will return after the offseason in September 2026.
The #1 Sheridan (WY) Hawks, #2 Helena Bighorns, #3 Great Falls Americans and the #4 Badlands (SD) Sabres are still alive as they participate in the 2026 NA3HL Fraser Cup Playoffs. The first round is the Frontier Division Semi-Finals where #1 Sheridan will challenge #4 Badlands and #2 Helena plays host to #3 Great Falls.
Before Great Falls could look toward the playoffs, they needed to finish some business with the Butte Irish on Saturday evening at the Great Falls Ice Plex. The annual home regular season finale serves as the Billet Family Appreciation Night, where host families get recognized on the ice for hosting their respective players.
During Friday’s final game in Butte (11-36-0-0), the Americans built a 3-1 advantage in the third frame before allowing two goals by the Irish including the last one with two mintues remaining to force an extra period. The Americans were 16 seconds away from possibly going to a shootout but Butte’s Keegan Adams buried the game-winning tally for the 4-3 overtime win. Riley Hattan, Cooper Clouse and AJ Prioli scored the three goals for the Americans. Jacob Avgustovskiy scored twice while Bryce Hodges and Keegan Adams put in the goals for Butte’s 11th victory.
There are four contests (none in the Frontier Division) that will finish their season on Sunday, March 8th but most of the squads in the six-division North American 3 Hockey League ended their regular season on Saturday.
The Americans (30-14-2-1, 63 pts.) finished in third place trailing the #1 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (34-10-2-1, 71 pts.) and the #2 Helena Bighorns (34-12-1-0, 69 pts.). Great Falls won 30 of their 47 total contests with 18 victores coming in front of the fans at the Great Falls Ice Plex.
Last season, Great Falls finished with an overall record of 29-17-4-2 advancing to the Frontier Division Finals where they fell to the Helena Bighorns in two games.
The Great Falls Americans cruised by the Butte Irish with an 8-0 shutout victory as the Americans celebrated their annual Toyota Billet Family Appreciation Night and their 30th win on the final day of the 2025-26 NA3HL regular season in Great Falls on Saturday night. Ethan Miller led the way with two goals and goaltender Kaden Rhyder put on a dominating performance stopping all 26 shots in the net.
Great Falls’ Ethan Miller broke the scoreless first period with 2:24 left before the first intermission on a scoring play near the goal. AJ Prioli and Cooper Clouse earned their 35th and 64th assists of the seasons, respectively with the Irish in the penalty box. The Americans led 1-0 after the first twenty minutes outshooting Butte, 28-10.
2026 GF Americans Billet Family Appreciation Night. Photo Credit: Kevin Scott
During the first intermission, the Americans celebrated Toyota Billet Family Appreciation Night as the host families came out onto the ice with their players that they have hosted throughout the 2025-26 season. Additional photos can be found in our photo gallery.
Tallon Caron and AJ Prioli scored ten minutes apart to give the home team a three-goal advantage in the middle period. Four minutes after the first intermission, Caron scored off a pass from Ethan Miller and AJ Prioli and then with 5:45 left on the clock, Prioli amassed his 22nd goal of the year with Cooper Clouse and Tallon Caron assisting. Both second period scoring drives came with the Irish in the sin bin. Ethan Miller closed out the period with a slapshot with two seconds left that stretched Great Falls’ lead to 4-0. Tallon Caron and Gordon Jennings added the helpers. Great Falls built a 48-19 lead in the shots-on-goal category before the final stanza.
Colton Bacon, a Billings, Montana native, recorded his fourth goal three minutes into the third frame. Aidan Mulharen picked up his second assist of the season while EJ Sanchez was credited with his seventh assist. The host team scored their sixth goal as Reid Lezubski put the puck in the net close to the goal with Carson Sears and Tallon Caron each adding one assist with 12:40 left in regulation. The scoring continued later in the stanza for the third place team in the Frontier Division. EJ Sanchez accrued his seventh goal with assistance coming from teammates, Reid Lezubski and Tallon Caron. Jase Troyer became the seventh different scorer for Great Falls with six minutes left as he tallied his sixth goal of the season from Colton Bacon to increase the lead to 8-0. The final six minutes went scoreless.
The Great Falls offense was on a mission a night after falling to the Irish in their home arena, 4-3 in overtime. The created 28 shots in the first and third periods to finish the contest with 76. After gathering ten shots in the first twenty minutes, Butte combined for just 16 in the second and third stanzas.
The Americans offense took advantage of penalties commited by the Irish and scored three of their eight total goals while the visiting team was down a man. Five power play chances eluded the Irish in their season finale.
Kaden Rhyder played his final regular season game for Great Falls and he did not disappoint the home crowd. The Pennsylvania netminder swatted away all 26 shots and he went 6-0-0-0 against Butte this season and improved to 17-6-0-1 in 25 appearances. Meanwhile, Blake Drost saw his final contest with Butte this season go for a loss. The Boise, Idaho product made 61 saves in 54 minutes of action before being replaced by backup Matthieu Chernauckas, who stopped all seven shots.
NOTES: The Great Falls Americans recognized all the billet (host) families and their players they hosted this season in a ceremony during the first intermission. We would like to thank all of the billet families and the players!!!
| Mark and Martha Cappis: | Hosting Jarret Averett, Gordon Jennings and Gunnar Bergo |
| Aj and Amanda Cronk: | Hosting Owen Cronk |
| Ty and Britny Fayden: | Hosting Fisher Hannesson and Keegan Hanson |
| Mike and Katie Hanning: | Hosting Colton Bacon and Wyatt Hanna |
| Zach and Eliza Hattan: | Hosting Riley Hattan |
| Edward Perez and Maria Segoviaz: | Hosting Tallen Caron and Jaxen Savage |
| Victoria Saidel: | Hosting Brennan Pierce |
| Jim and Tony Quick: | Hosting Cole Murphy and Kiefer Lundmark |
| Chris and Shari Sanchez: | Hosting EJ Sanchez |
| Greg and Serena Sears: | Hosting Reid Lezubski and Carson Sears |
| Ryan and Krista Smith: | Hosting Cooper Clouse, Kaden Rhyder and Bryce Webb |
| Jody and Sharlene Staats: | Hosting Ethan Miller and AJ Prioli |
| Adam and Pam Stanczak: | Hosting Gavin Denis and Aiden Mulheran |
| Kris and Laura Steichen: | Hosting Wyatt Rust and Jarod Lemieux |
| Marc and Lisa Troyer: | Hosting Jase Troyer |
A special thanks to Kris Steichen for serving as our Billet Coordinator again this season. Rex Rigor, the Americans bus driver along with his wife Tracy and son, Tanner were also recognized.
The #1 Sheridan (WY) Hawks, #2 Helena Bighorns, #3 Great Falls Americans and the #4 Badlands (SD) Sabres all move on to postseason play after their Saturday contests. The Bozeman Ice Dogs, Gillette (WY) Wild, Yellowstone (WY) Quake and the Butte Irish will hang up the skates for the season after they wrapped up their season on Saturday evening.
The Sheridan Hawks will host the Badlands Sabres in one Frontier Division Semi-Final starting next week while the Bighorns and Americans will tangle in the other (semifinal) for a chance to move on to the Frontier Division Finals in two weeks. Helena will host Game 1 (7:05PM) on Friday, March 13th and Great Falls will entertain their rivals on Saturday night in Great Falls with the puck dropping at 7:05PM (MST) in Game 2 of the best-of-three series. Tickets for Game 2 are on sale on our website or can be purchased at the door. If a third game is necessary, the Bighorns will have home ice on Sunday, March 15th.
AMERICANS E-NEWSLETTERS: The Americans have two email newsletters for fans to receive in their inbox this season. Kevin Scott, the Americans Media Coordinator, has an Americans E-Newsletter that you can get on Sunday’s during the regular season filled with game summaries, press releases, links, schedule, etc. Click here to subscribe (if you haven’t already).
Americans Owner Matt Leaf creates and sends out a weekly email called “Baldy’s Puck Drop” that features team news, player profile, sponsor information and lots of other tidbits relating to Americans hockey that is published on Thursday mornings. Click here to receive the weekly newsletter (if you haven’t already).
NEXT CONTEST: #3 Great Falls will begin the 2026 NA3HL Fraser Cup Playoffs with their best-of-three series with the #2 Helena Bighorns with Game 1 set for Friday, March 13th starting at 7:05PM (MST) from Helena, Montana. The second game of the series will shift back to Great Falls for a 7:05PM (MST) start on Saturday, March 14th. If both teams each come out with a victory, a third and decisive Game 3 will occur in Helena on Sunday, March 15th. The 2026 Frontier Division Semi-Finals can be seen on the NA3HL’s official streaming service, NATV.
The winner of Great Falls and Helena series will face off in the Frontier DIvision Finals the following week against either the #4 Badlands (SD) Sabres or the #1 Sheridan (WY) Hawks.
Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom (1101 7th Street South) is the place to be after Friday and Saturday night home games where the Americans invite their fans and supporters to their post-game dinner.
Buffalo Wild Wings, located at 17 Northwest Bypass in Great Falls, hosts the “Americans Watch Party” this season when the Americans are on the road. Fans are invited to get food and drinks and watch the game.
NATV is the NA3HL’s new streaming platform and is the place to catch all the action for fans that are unable to attend the home and away games this season. Click here to learn more about how to view any of the Americans home and away contests.
For complete schedules/results, promotions, team stats, rosters and much more information, please go to our official website: www.greatfallsamericans.com
Photos of the 2026 Great Falls Americans Billet Family Appreciation Night are below. All Photos taken by Kevin Scott.
