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BALDY’S PUCK DROP Weekly E-Newsletter (September – August) |
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Baldy’s Puck Drop” Weekly E-Newsletter with Matt Leaf
Volume 87: December 11, 2025
PDF Printable Download: Weekly E-Newsletter with Matt Leaf
Dear Great Falls Americans Enthusiast: Never a dull moment with December hockey and the Americans’ weekend had a whole bunch of highs and a few lows. The weekend started with a gritty 3-1 win Friday night in Helena with Ethan Miller collecting two goals and Reid Lezubski scoring the game winner midway through the 2nd period. Saturday night was both exciting and scary as heck. The high was the results of our first ever “Teddy Bear Toss” presented by Russell Country Federal Credit Union as we collected 316 plush toys after the Americans first goal at the start of the 2nd period. Photos can’t really give the event justice as the fluff’s of all shapes, sizes and design littered the ice. Thank you to our loyal, and new fans, for embracing this worthy cause as these toys are being donated to three separate charities here in Great Falls. They are; The Great Falls Children’s Receiving Home, Cameron Family Center and the YWCA Mercy Home.
Saturday also presented our largest crowd of the season with the help of the 10U players participating in the Hockey in the Rockies 10U Tournament. We were delighted to recognize and salute these future Americans with a brief little “King of the Hill” Shootout competition during the 1st Intermission. A player from each participating team were challenged by two local Jr Americans Goalkeepers – who from what I saw got the better of the goal scorers. Congratulations to all the players taking part in the activities and thanks for making the Americans game part of your tournament plans.
Which brings us to the scary part and I certainly want to give everyone an update on Colton and EJ. With 8:30 remaining in the 3rd period,
Colton Bacon received a hard hit that caused him to go excessively into the boards and suffered a severe injury at the time. Colton lost feeling in a portion of his upper body and our training staff from Mountain View Physical Therapy took all the necessary precautions to rule out a spinal cord injury and the paramedics were called. The situation resulted in a lengthy delay and not knowing Colton’s condition, we consulted with the Bozeman staff, the game officials and the league office and made the determination to postpone the remainder of the game until a later date. Before leaving the ice, the players from both teams took a moment to reflect and share their well wishes for Colton at Center Ice. The game will be continued at a later date with Bozeman leading 2-1 with 8:30 remaining in the 3rd period and the Americans about to go on a five-minute power play. We’ll have more information as plans are finalized in the coming weeks.
The good news is that Colton does not have any spinal cord issues and, although still painful and will require a difficult recovery, instead has a shoulder that is pretty messed up with AC joint issues. I should also note that EJ Sanchez also suffered an injury in the first period, resulting in a broken collarbone. Both Colton and EJ will be seeing orthopedic specialists this week to start the recovery process and map out a plan to return to play and we certainly will miss them and want to wish them the best.
Last Thursday saw Jaxen Savage, Wyatt Rust and Bryce Webb make the journey to Sacajawea Elementary School as part of the Special Olympics of Montana Cool Schools Polar Plunge challenge. The Cool Schools initiative raises funds for the Special Olympics through ice Bucket Challenges and the Americans are proud to support these efforts. Sacajawea Elementary raised over $6200 and our guys watched 25 students get dunked with an ice bucket before it was Bryce Webb’s turn. The irony of this moment is our very own sled hockey player Izzy Goldsmith, a student at Sacajawea, was chosen to do the honors and, of course, she got some help from his teammates in attendance who decided to finish off the garbage can after Izzy had her chance. A special thanks goes out to our players who participated in the Elementary School events and to our fans who made donations to the cause.
After a quick practice early this morning, the Americans players and staff will hop on the bus and head on our road trip to the NA3HL Showcase in Blaine, Minnesota. The early morning practice is in hopes to get us out front of the weather heading into the region and it looks like we will be 2-3 hours ahead of it. As we have done in the past, we will make a journey of the trip to Minnesota with a few stops along the way. First stop is Bismarck, ND to overnight Thursday and then will get an early start on Friday morning to be able to hit an 11:00 AM practice 
time in Fargo – home to our players Cooper Clouse, Fisher Hannesson and Keegan Hanson. Those families will host us for a quick lunch after practice before we continue on to St. Cloud, MN, where will we take in the University of Denver versus St. Cloud State University NCAA D1 game. Saturday morning, we will practice at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud before finishing the trip to the western edge of Minneapolis.
The Americans open with a game versus the Austin Ice Bats from the South Division on Sunday the 14th at 8:00 PM MT. We follow up with a 5:30 PM MT start on Monday the 15th versus the Alexandria Blizzard from the West Division and conclude with an 11:15 AM MT game on Tuesday the 16th with the Mason City Toros. The NA3HL Showcase is always a special time of the year as it is a chance for our players to perform in front of hundreds of Junior and College scouts
from throughout the country. With all 38 league teams in one location, it provides an easy and efficient means for scouts to see players from the league and some 18U and 16U games that are also taking place that weekend. Plan to watch all our Showcase games at our official watch party taking place at Buffalo Wild Wings.
The Great Falls Americans special 12 Days of Christmas event where we will be drawing a mystery prize winner each day from December 13th–
24th is continuing through DASH (QR Code to the left). It is not too late to enter to win one of the prizes from the Great Falls Americans “12 days of Christmas” by purchasing a special edition Baldy Christmas Ornament through DASH. Get your Baldy ornament and follow our social media to see if you are a winner!
Player Profile – #71 Keifer Lundmark (Detroit Lakes, MN) 6’2” 190 lbs. FOR – Shoots Right DOB 11/21/2006
Favorite Team: Minnesota Wild 
Favorite Player: Patrick Kane
Favorite Movie: Wolf of Wall Street
Favorite Actor/Actress: Will Ferrell
Favorite Food: Chicken and Rice
Favorite Pre-Game Meal: Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwich
If you were animal: A Black Panther – Because I am sneaky.
Musical Group You Won’t Miss in Concert: IanYeat/Travis Scott
Pre-Game Hype Music: Metal, Anything
One Person to be stuck with on a deserted island: Luke from Outdoor Boys TV
Hobbies other than Hockey: Golf, Surfing
Three People you would invite to Dinner: Michael Scott, Jordan Belfort, Tony Stark
College/University of Choice: University of North Dakota
Like Most About Great Falls: The community and surrounding landscape.
How would you define a successful season: Come together as a team and work hard to win the Frontier Division!
Here are the upcoming dates to add to your calendar:
- December 14th – Showcase game versus 8:00 PM Puck drop and join our fans at Buffalo Wild Wings for our official Watch Party location.
- December 15th – Showcase game versus 5:30 PM Puck drop and join our fans at Buffalo Wild Wings for our official Watch Party location.
- December 16th – Showcase game versus Mason 11:15 AM Puck drop and join our fans at Buffalo Wild Wings for our official Watch Party location.
- December 17th -26th – Christmas Break for all Americans players and staff.
- December 27th – Hockey Day in Americans Practice and youth hockey clinics.
- December 31st – New Years Eve Home game versus 6:05 PM Puck drop.
- January 3rd – Away game at 7:30 PM Puck drop and join our fans at Buffalo Wild Wings for our official Watch Party location.
- January 9th – Home Game versus 7:05 PM Puck drop as we wear our special edition Rodeo Jerseys.
- January 10th – Home Game versus 7:05 PM Puck drop as we wear our special edition Rodeo Jerseys.
- January 16th – Away game at 7:00 PM Puck drop and join our fans at Buffalo Wild Wings for our official Watch Party location.
- January 17th – Away game at 7:00 PM Puck drop and join our fans at Buffalo Wild Wings for our official Watch Party location.
Thank you to our corporate partners for their continued support.
Eagle’s Nest Level
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Diamond Level
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Platinum Level
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Tammy Quintrell-Stubbs
Gold, Silver and Bronze Level Partners (* new this season)
| All-State Signs | Beacon Ice House | Eagle Mount Therapeutic Recreation* |
| Floors & More Abbey Carpets | Central Avenue Meats | MNoel Photography |
| Havre Youth Hockey | Central MT Lock & Safe | Century Gaming |
| Life in Bloom Floral @ Gift Boutique | Hotel Arvon/Celtic Cowboy | Stifel l Finnicum Financial Group |
| Coca-Cola* | Craftmaster Cabinets | Culligan Water |
| Comparion Insurance | Play It Again Sports | Open Door Wellness |
| Big Sky Laboratory | Cascade Electric | Hampton Inn & Suites |
| Ferrin’s Furniture | Great Falls Hospital | She Bare Wax & Sugar Boutique |
| Jersey Mike’s | Karma Coffee | Murphy Law |
| Scheels | Stockman Bank | Traynor Capital |
| Voices of Hope* | Johnson Distributing | Mountain Title Company |
| Fire Pizza* | Montana Rib & Chop House* | Visit Great Falls |
| Croxford Funeral Home and Crematory | Bish’s RV of Great Falls* | StaRadio |
| Benski Towing & Recovery | Westgate Repair, Inc. | Annie’s Taphouse |
| Sip-N-Dip Lounge* | Special Olympics of Montana* | TDS Fiber |
Thank you for being a part of our hockey family!
Matt Leaf
Great Falls Americans HC Inc
MattL.GFAmericans@gmail.com