By Kevin Scott
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GILLETTE, Wyo., February 10, 2024 — After falling 6-0 to the Wild on Friday evening, Great Falls was looking to avenge their loss and get back on the winning track on Saturday. On Friday, Wylee Gladen, Landon Thiessen, Cade Voge, Chase Hapka, Jacob Guitard, and Isaac Young saw the goal lamp light up throughout the night. Cole Wheaton (12-3-0-1) had 28 saves for the home team. Anyon Bennett (7-4-0-1 with Granite City, 0-1-0-0 with Great Falls), a newly acquired goaltender who came to the Americans from the NA3HL’s Granite City Lumberjacks, took the loss with 35 saves in his first outing with the Montana club. Americans backup Noah Van Herik also played and made 17 saves (game story).
For the final time in the regular season, the #4 Great Falls Americans (18-20-0-1) battled it out with the #2 Gillette (WY) Wild (36-4-0-1) in Wyoming on Saturday evening to wrap up their weekend series.
Adam Severson scored once in the second and added another in the third frame to lead the second-ranked Gillette (WY) Wild to a 5-2 win that saw many penalties called on both sides. Aiden Kennedy and Ty O’Bey received goals in the setback for Great Falls.
Great Falls’ Aiden Kennedy tied the game early in the first period after Gillette’s Jace Johnson buried the puck in the net 43 seconds into the contest off the stick of teammate Blake Biermaier. Kennedy’s unassisted tally occurred seven minutes into the first period. The Wild broke the tie 76 seconds later as Matt Siems found Jayden Rogen for the go-ahead score.
Ty O’Bey evened up the score for the visitors with help from Garrett Driscoll and Blake Komrofske four minutes after the first intermission. Adam Severson and Wylee Gladen led Gillette’s offensive attack by scoring one (unassisted) goal apiece for the 4-2 advantage before the second break. After two periods, Gillette scored four goals on 40 shots while Great Falls racked up two scoring drives on 22 shots.
The second-ranked team in the NA3HL’s Frontier Division held the 4-2 lead until the final minute of the third period when Adam Severson’s slapshot sailed into the empty net when Great Falls added an extra attacker and took out goaltender Noah Van Herik.
The game got out of hand with major penalties occurring in the second and third stanzas. The final meeting of the regular season between these two rivals saw 35 penalties that resulted in 220 minutes spent in the penalty box. Great Falls had 12 power play opportunities with one goal being allowed while the Wild were down a man. Gillette went 0-for-5.
Both squads created 15 third period shots after the Wild held a 40-22 lead after two periods.
Weston Gerke is now 12-1-0-0 on the season as he earned his second win this season against Great Falls. The Wisconsin netminder made 35 saves in sixty minutes of action. Kaden Ryhder (11-10-0-1) started and played the first 32 minutes making 29 saves before being relieved by Noah Van Herik, who allowed one goal (21 saves).
Great Falls went 1-2 over the week with a Thursday win against the Badlands (SD) Sabres in Rapid City, South Dakota before stopping in Gillette, Wyoming where they fell in both contests.
FRONTIER DIVISION UPDATE: After a scoreless first period, #6 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (15-22-2-2) and the #1 Helena Bighorns (38-2-0-0) each accrued three goals for a 3-3 tie after two periods. Hunter Coulombe, Owen Gruener, and Mason Eggen for Helena added goals while Sheridan’s Dillan Vallejo, Daniel Shelden, and Tanner Freed lit up the lamp for the visiting Wyoming club. Helena denied any chance of an upset when Camden Cunningham racked up two third period goals to give the Bighorns their 38th win in 40 contests on Saturday night. Jesse Schindel continues to be unstoppable in the net. He had 24 saves to improve his record to 12-0-0-0 on the season for Helena. Sheridan’s Aidan Knox is now 2-5-0-0 in eight appearances for the Hawks. The first-year goalie allowed five goals but finished with 49 saves in the setback (Box Score).
The #3 Bozeman Ice Dogs (26-14-0-1) continued their winning ways and defeated the #5 Badlands (SD) Sabres (15-18-3-3) in both contests this weekend. Bozeman won 4-1 on Friday and downed the South Dakota squad, 5-2 on their home ice. The third period was the difference in this contest as both squads were tied (2-2) before the third period. Magnus Lowham paced the Ice Dogs with two goals including the first goal of the game. Matthias Godfrey also scored a lamplighter in the opening stanza. Hunter Walla had back-to-back scores for the Sabres in the middle period. Bozeman’s offense did not relent as they produced three consecutive goals (Bodie Shepardson, Dominik Hauer, and Magnus Lowham) in the final period to close out the Sabres at Haynes Pavilion on Saturday evening. Matthew Ryynanen (18-11-0-1) has three wins against Badlands this season by adding 29 saves to his resume. Hunter Oger, who stopped 33 of 38 shots by Bozeman’s offense, had his record fall to 2-8-1-1 this season (Box Score).
The #7 Butte Irish (16-24-1-0) never trailed in their home contest with the #8 Yellowstone (WY) Quake on Saturday night in Butte, Montana. The Irish led 3-1 before the second intermission with goals by Loghan Weber, Brennen Morgan, and Ryan Sikorski. Butte then rattled off four of the five third period goals for the easy 7-2 win over the winless Quake, who continue their offensive struggles this season. Loghan Weber amassed his second score of the night followed by one each from Toby Kerr, Andrew Browe, and Sebaquien Chlud. The Quake had one goal each from Logan Nichols and former Great Falls American Austin Blackner. Nicholas Ulyanov (3-1-0-0) swatted away 25 shots in his first win over Yellowstone. No goalie stats were available for Yellowstone (Box Score).
NOTES: Forward Dmitri Kuleshov and goaltender Kaden Ryhder received Honorable Mention honors for the weekly “NA3HL Stars of the Week” for the week ending February 4, 2024, for their play last week against the Helena Bighorns. Click here for more information.
In this week’s “Baldy’s Puck Drop” Newsletter, Americans team owner Matt Leaf has a player profile of Austin Trout, a special Valentine’s Day auction and a quick recap of two-game series last weekend against the Helena Bighorns and we welcome new netminder Anyon Bennett, who comes from the Granite City Lumberjacks to the team. Check out the newsletter for more information. Click here to view this past week’s newsletter and all the weekly “Baldy’s Puck Drop” Newsletters.
Be sure to check out Staradio’s Weekly Interview with Greg Sears hosted by Troy Mellinger. The short radio interview gives a recap of last weekend’s home and road games against the Helena Bighorns. Listen live every Monday throughout the season at 12:20PM (MST) on FOX SPORTS RADIO (98.3FM/1400AM) and on Q106.1 FM on Wednesday mornings at 10:00AM (MST). To listen to this interview and the previous others from the 2023-24 season, please click here.
This week, another episode of the “Americans Podcast with Jim Quick” was completed with his guest being goaltender Kaden Ryhder. Quick has done eleven podcasts this year featuring the history of the Americans, interviews with former American and now Associate Coach, Alex Leaf, and some current players. Fans can listen to the full podcasts by clicking here.
The NA3HL released their all-new and updated App this week for the App Store and Google Play. Download and set your favorite team to the Great Falls Americans today and stay up to date with the NA3HL. Click here to download from the App Store (Apple) or click here to download from the Google Play Store (Android).
Check out all the Americans photos throughout the season including some taken by Americans photographer, Dustin Bauer. Click here to view all the photos from the 2023-24 season.
Click here to view the Americans online team store that features a variety of different souvenirs to purchase. A store is available at all home games. Fans can also buy game day tickets on the website prior to the game by clicking here.
Please check out the Americans website at www.greatfallsamericans.com for all your updated news, game summaries, rosters, photo galleries, etc.
NEXT CONTEST: The NA3HL has three full weeks of competition remaining in the 2023-24 regular season and Great Falls will once again be back on the ice for three more games this week facing the top-ranked Helena Bighorns.
Great Falls will host Helena on Wednesday (February 14) at 7:00PM (MST) and will also be the home team again for Friday’s (February 16) rare weekday game beginning at 12:00PM (MST). The Great Falls Public Schools does not have school on Friday so the Americans are inviting any student (Kindergarten through eighth grade) to see the Amerians play FREE with a paid adult admission ticket (see article).
The Americans will close out their season rivalry with the Bighorn inside Steed Arena in Helena, MT on Saturday, February 17th with game time set for 7:05PM (MST). All games are on NAHLTV. To learn more about how to watch the Americans in action on NAHL TV, please click here.
Click here for the 2023-24 Great Falls Americans schedule and results.