By Kevin Scott
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GREAT FALLS, Mont., October 28, 2017 — The Americans (10-1-2-0) were coming off a 5-4 overtime loss to the Missoula Jr. Bruins on Friday night and hoped to get back to their winning ways after having their three-game winning streak snapped.
The Great Falls Americans scored goals in each of the three periods to come out on top of the visiting Missoula Jr. Bruins 3-1 on Saturday night at the Great Falls Ice Plex. The win gave the local fans plenty to cheer about after Friday’s disappointing defeat.
Great Falls scored the one and only goal during the first period. It took nearly 18 minutes, but Minnesota native Nick Ramstad gathered his first goal of the season for Great Falls off the feed from Nate Simpson and Tanner Rath. Great Falls attempted 19 shots while Missoula settled for six.
Cameron Cunningham, a former player for the Americans, added his ninth goal for the Missoula NA3HL franchise five minutes into the middle period. Parker Todd assisted on the powerplay that tied up the contest. Trent Cowden and Adam Vandenbos saw the open Weston Goodman who reached out to put the puck between the pipes for the second score for the Americans. The power play opportunity came at the 6:04 mark of the period.
Late in the third period, Adam Vandenbos made sure the Americans didn’t suffer their second defeat in as many days with his short-handed goal that went unassisted.
After taking half of their shots-on-goal in the opening period (19), The host team combined for 19 in the following two periods. Missoula took 10 shots in each of the final two periods to finish with 26.
The Americans had seven players spend a total of 32 minutes off the ice due to penalties. Meanwhile, the Bruins accounted for five minor penalties for 10 minutes.
A night after the disappointing setback to the Bruins, Bryan Sharp played a better game in the net for Great Falls. He swatted away 25 of the 26 shots. Brian Thomas recorded 35 saves but was pulled in the final 49 seconds.
NEXT CONTEST: Great Falls will play their fifth and sixth straight home game at the Great Falls Ice Plex next weekend (November 3rd and 4th) when they host the Yellowstone Quake at 7:30PM each night.
Additional Media Coverage: October 29, 2017: Great Falls Tribune: Americans top Missoula