By Kevin Scott
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HAVRE, Mont., November 27, 2015 — Great Falls forward Tanner Congdon scored two goals and had one assist to lead the Frontier Division leading Americans (16-5) to a 5-2 win over the Glacier Nationals (2-15-2) on Friday night as 500 spectators watched these two NA3HL teams in action at the Havre Ice Dome.
Last Saturday at home, Great Falls led from start-to-finish and dominated the Glacier Nationals 8-2. Tegan Harrington was one goal short of a hat trick for the Americans. Great Falls has had their way with the Havre-based Nationals all season out-scoring them 25-4 in three contests.
Latvia native Ricards Bernhards scored the lone goal of the period for Great Falls off the stick of veteran Connor Barta for his ninth goal in 20 games during the opening 4:49 into the first period. Great Falls took 15 shots at Glacier goalie Raymond Smith while holding the Nationals to just six in the penalty-free stanza.
Josh Larson wasted little time in getting the second goal for the league-leading Americans as his slap-shot 53 seconds into the middle period put the visiting team ahead 2-0. Tanner Congdon, the team leader in assists, garnered his fifteenth of the season for the first-year American. Glacier’s Brendan Echelbarger sailed the puck by Great Falls net minder Lauren Massie five minutes later to pull within one goal. Tyler McMahon was credited with the assist. The Americans, under the direction of fourth-year head coach Jeff Heimel, continued to lead the offensive attack by producing 16 shot attempts in the middle period.
Tanner Congdon scored two out of the three American goals in the final period after dishing out one assist in the second period. Congdon’ first points and the team’s third goal came with 14 minutes left in regulation followed by another goal six minutes later. Josh Larson, the forward from Anchorage, Alaska, assisted on each of Congdon’s successful scoring opportunities. Also assisting were Ricards Bernhards and Jesse Johnson. Glacier’s Kade Friede cut the Great Falls lead in half (4-2) with his goal from Brendan Echelbarger and Ronald Robertson with four minutes remaining. Austin Krantz tallied the final points of the evening on an empty net score in the final 69 seconds for the Americans. Tegan Harrington accumulated his eight assist of the 2015-16 campaign.
Neither team racked up many penalties in this contest. Great Falls and Glacier saw just one minor penalty apiece that occurred with seven minutes left in the third period. Great Falls defenseman Miles Giorgione was called for charging while Glacier’s Tyler McMahon was charged with a holding call.
Lauren Massie, has won seven of the ten games he has appeared in this season, is fourth among active goalies in the NA3HL with a save percentage of 0.928. The 5’10” net minder stopped 19 of the 21 shots sent his way. Raymond Smith for Glacier chipped in 43 saves in the loss.
NEXT CONTEST: The Americans end their three road games in four days when they battle the Bozeman Ice Dogs on Saturday, November 28th at 7:30PM from Haynes Pavilion in Bozeman, Montana.