By Kevin Scott
HAVRE, Mont., January 16, 2015 — The Great Falls Americans (28-5) battled the Glacier Nationals (6-23-5) for the second time in five days. On Sunday afternoon in Great Falls, the Americans picked up the 2-1 victory over the Nationals.
Zack Mese and Lucas Lomax scored four of the seven goals in the Americans 7-2 rout over the last place Glacier Nationals on Friday night at the Havre Ice Dome. Great Falls won for the second time in less than a week against their opponents from up north.
The Americans led 1-0 after the first twenty minutes of action in Havre. A power play goal by Lucas Lomax put the visitors on the scoreboard first. The scoring opportunity in the first 87 seconds of the contest was set up by Robert Kalata and Wade Wylie. Great Falls added 16 shots-on-goal while limiting Glacier to five.
After the first intermission, Glacier’s Joshua Larson connected on a power play score with help from Tommy Kaddatz and Blake Evennou to tie the contest (1-1). The Americans embarked on three consecutive goals to end the period. Lucas Lomax picked up his second goal of the night while Lucas Stover and Wade Wylie also netted points for the first-place squad in the Frontier Division. Four players chipped in the assists including Dylan Garton, Cody Page, Erik Gatson and Arseny Ivanov.
During the final stanza, Zack Mese secured the first two goals for coach Jeff Heimel’s team in a 13 minute span. Reed Link, Lucas Lomax, Marvin Simmons and Wade Wylie tacked on the assists. Glacier netted their second goal and cut their deficit to 6-2 on a score by Brett LeBeau off a dish by Joshua Larson and Karson Frisk with less than five minutes left in regulation. Before the end of the period, Zack Mese found an open Brendan Jester for the tally with nine seconds on the clock.
The Americans finished with eight infractions for 16 minutes of penalties while the host team ended their night with six infractions for 20 minutes.
The Great Falls club was led by Lucas Lomax and Zack Mese who each had two goals and one assist. All of Mese’s points came in the final period. Wade Wylie also scored once and registered two assists. Meanwhile, Glacier’s Brett LeBeau was involved in both of the National’s scoring opportunities and led his team with one goal and one assist.
Both teams converted one of their power play chances.
Wyatt Monear, in his first start for the Americans behind the net, stopped 19 of the 21 shots that the Nationals sent his way. After having 54 saves in their last meeting, Ryan Lund picked up 35 in the loss.
NEXT CONTEST: The Great Falls Americans will travel to Helena, Montana on Saturday, January 17, 2015 to face the Helena Bighorns at 7:05PM at the Helena Ice Arena.
| Period 1 | Period 2 | Period 3 | Final | |
| Great Falls | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| Glacier | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
First Period – 1, Great Falls, Lucas Lomax (power play) (Robert Kalata, Wade Wylie), 1:48.
Second Period – 2, Glacier, Joshua Larson (power play) (Tommy Kaddatz, Blake Evennou), 1:27. 3, Great Falls, Lucas Lomax (Dylan Garton), 4:05. 4, Great Falls, Lucas Stover (Cody Page, Erik Gatson), 7:52. 5, Great Falls, Wade Wylie (Arseny Ivanov), 11:35.
Third Period – 6, Great Falls, Zack Mese (Reed Link, Lucas Lomax), 6:43. 7, Great Falls, Zack Mese (Marvin Simmons, Wade Wylie), 13:34. 8, Glacier, Brett LeBeau (Joshua Larson, Karson Frisk), 15:24. 9, Great Falls, Brendan Jester (Zack Mese), 19:51.
Shots on Goal – Great Falls 42, Glacier 21.
Power-play Opportunities – Great Falls 1-for-3, Glacier 1-for-6.
Attendance – 200