NOTE: A Special Thanks to Michael Noel (above, https://mnoelphotography.smugmug.com) for providing the photos.
By Kevin Scott
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GREAT FALLS, Mont.., November 21, 2025 — Entering Friday’s contest with the Yellowstone Quake (6-13-2-0), the Great Falls Americans (13-7-1-1) have won three of the four encounters with the Quake. In the four previous meetings, Great Falls has racked up 17 total goals and allowed eight to the Cody, Wyoming based NA3HL franchise.
In the latest battle on the ice on October 25th in Great Falls, Great Falls led 7-0 through the first 58 minutes before giving up a goal in the final two minutes to erase the shutout. Ethan Miller was the standout in the contest as the forward from Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, racked up four goals and one assist. Kaden Rhyder, the Americans goaltender, swatted away 25 of the 26 shots attempted by the Quake’s offense. Shayne Smith delivered the lone goal for Yellowstone in the third period. Damen Baxter took the loss for Yellowstone as their netminder.
On Friday, Great Falls was looking for their sixth victory in seven games dating back to October 31st with four of those victories coming on the road. The Americans have bested the Gillette (WY) Wild, Sheridan (WY) Hawks, Butte Irish and the Bozeman Ice Dogs during that stretch of regular season contests.
Ethan Miller and Keifer Lundmark combined for four goals and two assists and netminder Gunnar Bergo made 22 saves as the Great Falls Americans remained in third place in the NA3HL Frontier Division standings by posting a 7-3 victory over the Yellowstone Quake during the first night of Military Appreciation Night at the Great Falls Ice Plex on Friday evening. Great Falls is now 4-1-0-0 when playing Yellowstone after five head-to-head meetings.
The Malmstrom AFB Color Guard presented the colors prior to the Great Falls Americans game with the Yellowstone Quake on Friday in Great Falls. Photo Credit: Kevin Scott
During the first period, Great Falls took 20 total shots-on-goal that resulted in two scoring plays. Tallon Caron put the home team on the scoreboard first when he got the puck through Quake goalie Damen Baxter with 16 minutes remaining. Ethan Miller gathered his 14th assist on the score. Great Falls’ Keifer Lundmark accrued his second goal of the season ten minutes after Caron’s tally. Jaxen Savage and Tallon Caron earned the assists. The Americans defense held the visitors from Wyoming to ten shots in the first twenty minutes of action.
Both teams each traded two goals during the first eight minutes of the second stanza. Carson Joersz scored with Nolan Winkler assisting on the power play goal to cut Yellowstone’s deficit (2-1). Great Falls scored quickly (23 seconds later) as AJ Prioli and Cooper Clouse assisted on Ethan Miller’s 13th goal of the season. After earning an assist on the Quake’s first goal, Nolan Winkler tacked on a lamplighter off a pass from Tucker Sarkisian with the host team in the penalty box. Cooper Clouse drove through the lane to add his 13th goal of the season with 11:57 on the clock. Ethan Miller and AJ Prioli were each credited with one assist apiece to give the Americans a two-goal advantage (4-2). The Americans would put the biscuit in the basket once more before the end of the period. Kiefer Lundmark scored for the second time tonight with Jaxon Savage and Tallon Caron collecting their second assists of the game.
Great Falls came out of the second intermission with a 5-2 advantage. That quickly changed as Ethan Miller took advantage of the power play opportunity and secured his second goal of the night set up by Cooper Clouse and Tallon Caron 56 seconds into the final period of regulation. The Americans scored their seventh goal thanks to a shot by EJ Sanchez near the net off a pass from Fisher Hannesson with less than seven minutes remaining. Gavin Denis received the secondary assist. Before the contest ended, Yellowstone’s Colby Jensen, who started the season with the Butte Irish, put the puck in the net for his first scoring drive of the season. Julian Merschdorf and Shayne Smith assisted on the third score for the Wyoming NA3HL team.
Great Falls produced more 49 shots-on-goal in 60 minutes of ice time. Yellowstone, who had a team high of 13 in the third frame, finished with 35.
Two of Yellowstone’s three goals came with the Americans in the sin bin. The Quake went 2-for-5. Ethan Miller’s third period goal came while the visiting team was down a man (penalty). Great Falls went 1-for-2 on the power play.
Four players led the charge for the winning team. Ethan Miller was one goal shy of a hat trick (2 goals, 2 assists), Kiefer Lundmark, who also celebrated a birthday today, registered two goals, Cooper Clouse had one goal and dished out two assists and Tallon Caron had one goal and a team high of three assists for the 13th win of the season. Nolan Winkler, Carson Joersz and Colby Jensen each scored one goal each for the Quake. Winkler also had an assist in the first period.
Kaden Rhyder played the first twenty minutes stopping all ten shots. But Gunnar Bergo played the final 40 minutes and had 22 saves in his third contest of the season. He is now 2-1-0-0 including a win against the Gillette (WY) Wild and a loss against the Quake earlier in the season. Meanwhile, Yellowstone netminder Damen Baxter (5-13-2-0) is now 1-3-0-0 when facing Great Falls. The Omaha, Nebraska native stopped 42 shots in the loss.
NOTES: This weekend, Great Falls celebrates 1st Liberty Federal Credit Union and Military Appreciation Weekend (Nov. 21-
22) with the Yellowstone Quake as the Americans opponent. The Americans are wearing military themed special edition jerseys that pay homage to Malmstrom Air Force Base for both nights. The jerseys will be signed and auctioned off after the weekend with the proceed going to a military charity called “A Top-3 Fly Home Program” at Malmstrom Air Force Base (MAFB). This charity helps airmen at MAFB be able to fly home to visit friends and family. The auction goes from Friday at 5:00PM until Tuesday at 8:00PM. Please scan the QR Code at the right to place your jersey bid.
Also, we are also parterning with 1st Liberty Federal Credit Union for a food drive where there will be an opportunity to donate non-perishable food at the game. Fans that buy their admission tickets at the door, will get $1.00 discount for your donation each night.
The Americans have three upcoming DASH activations including the Military Jersey Auction and the Russell Country Federal Credit Union’s
“Jersey Off Our Back” night with the proceeds going to the Josh Huestis Foundation, a local non-profit that supports youth programs. Josh was a former C.M. Russell High School (Great Falls) basketball player and Stanford University graduate who spent time playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Oklahoma CIty Thunder. Use the QR Code on the right to get activated with these auctions. The Americans will also be having a “12 Days of Christmas” activation with one winner drawn each day from December 13-24. Fans can purchase a special edition Baldy Christmas Ornament through DASH.
At our December 6th home game versus Bozeman, we will be having a Teddy Bear Toss. For more information, please view the FREE “Baldy’s Puck Drop” weekly Newsletter (register below) for more information. You can also view the newsletters online by clicking here as well.
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: Great Falls and Yellowstone will meet for the sixth and final time this season with the showdown set for Saturday, November 22, 2025 at 7:05PM (MST) at the Great Falls Ice Plex. The Americans have won three out of the four previous matchups. NATV is where fans can find all the action if they are unable to make it in person to the game.
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