By Kevin Scott
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GREAT FALLS, Mont., December 11, 2015 — Tanner Congdon had a hat trick while Ricards Bernhards and Hayden Moister each scored twice as Great Falls (18-6) cruised to an easy 10-0 win over the last place Glacier Nationals (2-19-2) on Friday night. The Great Falls Americans saw 826 fans watch their final home game of 2015 during Cascade Farmers Mutual Insurance and McDonald’s ‘We Win, You Win’ night. The win was Great Falls’ largest margin of victory this season.
Previously, the Americans have had their way with the Glacier Nationals this season claiming four straight victories over the Havre team. Great Falls has allowed the Nationals to score no more than two goals per game and have out-scored their rivals 30-6 including a 12-1 win during the season opener on home ice.
Great Falls quickly scored three goals in the first nine minutes of the opening period. Forwards Jacob Draves and Ricards Bernhards scored their goals within 49 seconds of each other thanks to help from Malachi Bushey, Josh Larson, and Wade Wylie, who each assisted. Adam Apangalook found an open lane for the third point. Stevan Goran and Jesse Johnson picked up the assists. The home team put in one more goal on the scoreboard before the first intermission. Adam Apangalook and Stevan Goran, who chipped in his second assist, found Wasilla, Alaska native Hayden Moistner for the score.
The Americans controlled the puck for most of the first period and never allowed the visiting Glacier NA3HL franchise to find the back of the net. Great Falls held a 21-8 shots-on-goal advantage.
Tanner Congdon netted his eleventh goal of the season during the first 3:54 of the second period off the sticks of Miles Giorgione and Ricards Bernhards. A short time later, Hayden Moistner, the 5’5” forward from Alaska, scored for the second time for just his second goal as a member of the Americans. Adam Apangalook registered his second assist and Stevan Goran grabbed his third assist on the Moistner score with 13:54 to go in the middle period. The top-ranked team in the Frontier Division held a 7-0 lead after 40 minutes of action. Ricards Bernhards drove the puck towards goal for his second score and 11th overall this season. Josh Larson added his 16th assist of the season while Tanner Congdon provided his first of the night. Coach Jeff Heimel’s team took 25 second period shots against Glacier goaltender Ben Perone while holding Glacier to six.
Tanner Congdon netted two goals during a 38 second span in the final period of regulation. His first goal with 16 minutes on the clock went unassisted. Josh Larson and Ricards Bernhards acquired the assists for the ninth goal. Brendan Jester accumulated the last goal of the game that came with 39 seconds left. Great Falls native Connor Barta and Jesse Johnson assisted on the scoring play. The Americans took 40 more shots in the game (61-21) than the visiting team from Havre did.
The Americans and Nationals combined for five minor penalties for 10 minutes. Each team received one penalty apiece in the first two periods of play. Both teams could not convert any of their power plays (0-3).
Tanner Congdon paced the host team with three goals while Ricards Bernhards and Hayden Moistner each tallied two goals. Stevan Goran added three more assists to his season stats and Bernhards chipped in two.
Lauren Massie, the veteran goaltender for the Americans, earned 21 saves and stopped all of his shots that the Glacier offense gave him. Glacier used both of their goaltenders. Raymond Smith made 17 stops in the first period while backup Ben Perone finished with 36 in the final two periods.
NEXT CONTEST: Great Falls will head to Blaine, Minnesota for the 2015 NA3HL Showcase Tournament from December 17-19th with many college scouts in attendance. On Thursday, December 17th, Great Falls will serve as the home team and face the Euless Jr. Stars (Euless, TX) at 5:15PM (MST) from the Schwan Super Rink. Click here for tournament information.