Photo: Courtesy of Laura Richesin
By Kevin Scott
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GREAT FALLS, Mont., November 4, 2017 — The Great Falls Americans (10-3-2-0) have had a tough time trying to defeat the Yellowstone Quake this season. Great Falls is now 1-3 against the high scoring Quake including last night’s 4-0 setback.
Great Falls suffered their first back-to-back losses of the season as Yellowstone used a four goal third period to defeat the Great Falls Americans 4-2 in front of nearly 700 spectators at the Great Falls Ice Plex.
Defenses came out shining during the first stanza on Saturday night. Neither allowed their counterparts to gather any points. The shots taken were even with Yellowstone having one more shot than Great Falls 15-14.
Four minutes into the next frame, Great Falls put the first points on the scoreboard. Adam Vandenbos round the back of the net with help from Cody Dearing and Matt Janke to put the home team in front, 1-0. Great Falls took 14 shots in the middle period and Yellowstone had 12.
The third period is when the scoring would begin. After Yellowstone tied it at 1-1 on a Riley Buller score 13 seconds into the final stanza, Great Falls regained the momentarily on a Jens Juliussen pass to an open Payton McSharry for the Americans second goal. That goal would be all the offense by Great Falls come muster as the Quake finished out the 17 minutes with three goals. Jack Moore, Mason Stewart, and Ian Doner chipped in the final goals for the Yellowstone victory.
When the final horn sounded, Great Falls took two more shots than Yellowstone (39-37) but failed to accumulate more than two goals.
Coach Jeff Heimel’s team committed six penalties accounting for 15 minutes in the penalty box. They couldn’t find a way to get any successful scoring drives off their three power plays. Yellowstone was whistled for five penalties and went 1-for-4 on the power play with Mason Stewart’s third period score going in the goal.
Sweden goaltender Jonatan Persson was credited as the winning netminder for Yellowstone. He had 37 saves. Great Falls Mack Willy redirected 33 of the 37 shots he faced and dropped his record to 5-2-0-1.
NEXT CONTEST: Great Falls visits the Capital City of Helena to take on the Bighorns at 7:05PM from the Helena Ice Arena on Friday, November 10th.