Americans survive comeback attempt by Gillette in Game 2

Mar 12, 2014 | News, Uncategorized

By Kevin Scott

GILLETTE, Wyo., March 12, 2014 —The Great Falls Americans held a three score lead going into the third period and survived a Gillette Wild comeback attempt in game two of the AWHL Semifinals on Wednesday night in Gillette, Wyoming. Great Falls defeated Gillette 3-2 and took a 2-0 series lead with a chance to close out the series on Friday night on home ice.

Both teams played great defense in the first period and didn’t allow any goals in the first twenty minutes on Wednesday night.

Great Falls was able to put up three points up in the second period behind the scoring efforts from Austin Nottke and Donovan Mattfeldt, who scored on the final two including one as time expired. Nottke’s score came with 4:44 on the clock with Johnathan Carpenter assisting. Mattfeldt scored the first of his two back-to-back goals with 2:19 remaining as Dylan Garton and Aaron McInnis coming away with one assist apiece on the power play. The Americans weren’t done scoring yet as Dylan Garton and Steven Butts got the puck over to Mattfeldt right before time ran out to give the visiting Americans a 3-0 advantage leading into the final period of play.

The Wild scored two goals in the final period but came up short in their comeback attempt. The Wild scored twice on two successful power play opportunities including a score by Greg Sauers from a pass by Bryce Mitzel six minutes into the last period and then Shane Brown added a goal with less than five minutes left in the AWHL contest. Bryce Mitzel picked up his second assist of the night and Will Fobair added one on Brown’s score.

Great Falls finished the second game of the AWHL semifinals by going 1-for-4 in power plays along with 32 shots on goal. Despite the loss, Gillette connected on two of their five power play opportunities and fired 37 shots against Americans goaltender Erik Powell. Powell accumulated 35 saves while Michael Kitts had 29 for the Wild. Both teams combined for 13 infractions for 35 minutes.

The Americans now take a 2-0 series leads back to Great Falls for game three on Friday night (March 14th) at 7:00 p.m. with a chance to sweep the series at home.

In the other semifinal in Billings, Montana, the Helena Bighorns also took a 2-0 lead in their series with the Billings Bulls by posting a 4-1 victory.

NEXT CONTEST: The Americans will return to the Great Falls Ice Plex on Friday, March 14th at 7:00 p.m. for Game 3 of the best-of-five series and if necessary, Game 4 and 5 will be in Great Falls too. See full schedule below.

 

 2014 AWHL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE: Best of Five

Friday, March 14th: Game 3: Gillette Wild @ Great Falls, 7:00 p.m., Great Falls Ice Plex, Great Falls, MT

Saturday, March 15th: Game 4: Gillette Wild @ Great Falls, 7:30 p.m., Great Falls Ice Plex, Great Falls, MT (if necessary)

Sunday, March 16th: Game 5: Gillette Wild @ Great Falls, 4:00 p.m., Great Falls Ice Plex, Great Falls, MT (if necessary)

 

Period 1 Period 2 Period 3 Final
Great Falls 0 3 0 3
Gillette 0 0 2 2

 

First Period – NO SCORING

Second Period – 1, Great Falls, Austin Nottke (Johnathan Carpenter), 15:16. 2, Great Falls, Donovan Mattfeldt (power play) (Dylan Garton, Aaron McInnis), 17:41. 3, Great Falls, Donovan Mattfeldt (Dylan Garton, Steven Butts), 19:59.

Third Period –4, Gillette, Greg Sauers (power play) (Bryce Mitzel), 6:04. 5, Gillette, Shane Brown (power play) (Will Fobair, Bryce Mitzel), 14:08.

Shots on Goal – Great Falls 32, Gillette 37.

Power-play Opportunities – Great Falls 1-for-4, Gillette 2-for-5.

Attendance – 526

Box Score: Great Falls @ Gillette

Final Campbell County Ice Arena    Wed, Mar 12, 2014 7:00 PM MST
Great Falls 3 Gillette 2

 

GAME DETAILS
SCORING SHOTS
1 2 3 TOTALS
Great Falls 0 3 0 3
Gillette 0 0 2 2
1 2 3 TOTALS
Great Falls 0 22 10 32
Gillette 0 22 15 37

 

POWERPLAYS
Great Falls 1 – 4 : Gillette 2 – 5

 

SCORING SUMMARY
Period 1
(no scoring)
Period 2
Great Falls – Austin Nottke (Jonnathan Carpenter) 15:16
Great Falls – Donovan Mattfeldt (power play) (Dylan Garton, Aaron McInnis) 17:41
Great Falls – Donovan Mattfeldt (Dylan Garton, Steven Butts) 19:59
Period 3
Gillette – Greg Sauers (power play) (Bryce Mitzel) 6:04
Gillette – Shane Brown (power play) (Will Fobair, Bryce Mitzel) 14:08
PENALTIES
Period 1
Great Falls – Donovan Mattfeldt – (Boarding), 2 MIN, 0:00
Gillette – Darren Banks – (Slashing), 2 MIN, 2:28
Gillette – Brandon Castleberry – (Head Contact), 2 MIN, 8:32
Period 2
Gillette – TJ McMinn – (Slashing), 2 MIN, 3:31
Great Falls – Erik Powell – (High Sticking) (Major), 5 MIN, 8:15
Gillette – Trent Dillinger – (Roughing), 2 MIN, 10:21
Gillette – TJ McMinn – (Interference), 2 MIN, 16:43
Period 3
Gillette – Dalton McCann – (Fighting) (Major), 5 MIN, 2:01
Great Falls – Jonnathan Carpenter – (Fighting) (Major), 5 MIN, 2:01
Great Falls – Paul Sartuche – (Slashing), 2 MIN, 5:47
Great Falls – Brady Christiaens – (Cross Checking), 2 MIN, 13:21
Great Falls – Dylan Garton – (Roughing), 2 MIN, 17:52
Gillette – Brandon Miller – (Roughing), 2 MIN, 17:52

 

 Great Falls  Gillette
# NAME G A PTS +/- S PIM
1 Powell, Erik 0 0 0 0 0 5
4 Sartuche, Paul 0 0 0 +1 0 2
5 Krantz, Austin 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Garton, Dylan 0 2 2 +1 0 2
9 Goran, Steven 0 0 0 +1 0 0
11 Kaercher, Max 0 0 0 +1 0 0
13 Mattfeldt, Donovan 2 0 2 +2 0 2
14 Carpenter, Jonnathan 0 1 1 +1 0 5
15 Butts, Steven 0 1 1 +1 0 0
16 Mese, Zack 0 0 0 0 0 0
17 Gatson, Erik 0 0 0 0 0 0
18 Link, Reed 0 0 0 0 0 0
19 Carter, Trent 0 0 0 0 0 0
20 Christiaens, Brady 0 0 0 0 0 2
23 Stover, Lucas 0 0 0 +1 0 0
27 Nottke, Austin 1 0 1 +1 0 0
29 Barta, Connor 0 0 0 0 0 0
30 Hauser, Evan 0 0 0 0 0 0
93 McInnis, Aaron 0 1 1 0 0 0
# NAME G A PTS +/- S PIM
3 Dillinger, Trent 0 0 0 0 0 2
4 Engdahl, Chase 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Reble, Tyler 0 0 0 -1 0 0
7 Mitzel, Bryce 0 2 2 -1 0 0
8 Sauers, Greg 1 0 1 -2 0 0
10 Miller, Brandon 0 0 0 0 0 2
12 Fobair, Will 0 1 1 -1 0 0
16 McCann, Dalton 0 0 0 -1 0 5
17 Istominov, Andrii 0 0 0 0 0 0
19 Brown, Shane 1 0 1 -1 0 0
20 McMinn, TJ 0 0 0 0 0 4
21 Kasdorf, Jonathan 0 0 0 0 0 0
22 Burke, Michael 0 0 0 -1 0 0
23 Papesh, Collin 0 0 0 0 0 0
24 Lantz, Rob 0 0 0 0 0 0
25 King, Alex 0 0 0 0 0 0
29 Banks, Darren 0 0 0 -1 0 2
30 Kitts, Michael 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 Kelley, Sean 0 0 0 0 0 0
33 Castleberry, Brandon 0 0 0 -1 0 2
  GOALIES
NAME DEC Min SHOTS SAVES
1 Erik Powell WIN 60:00 37 35
30 Evan Hauser (b)
NAME DEC Min SHOTS SAVES
30 Michael Kitts LOSS 58:57 32 29
31 Sean Kelley (b)

 

PENALTY TOTALS
Great Falls 18 minutes on 6 infractions Gillette 17 minutes on 7 infractions

 

Coach: Heimel, Jeffrey Coach: Winkler, Tom

 

OTHER FACTS
Game Length: 2:30
Attendance: 526

Additional Media Coverage: March 12, 2014: Great Falls Tribune: Americans take Wild, take 2-0 series lead