NOTE: A Special Thanks to Michael Noel (above, https://mnoelphotography.smugmug.com) for providing the photo.
By Kevin Scott
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GREAT FALLS, Mont., January 10, 2026 — The Great Falls Americans (21-10-1-1, 44 pts.) have won four of their six games against the Frontier Division leading Sheridan (WY) Hawks (23-9-2-1, 49 pts.) this season.
On Friday, four different players from Great Falls scored including Ethan Miller, Cooper Clouse, AJ Prioli and former Yellowstone Quake forward, Jordan Murray as they made their victory over the Hawks look easy. The 4-1 decision gave Great Falls their tenth home win and 20th overall victory. Jake Vukich of Sheridan prevented the shutout in the second period. Kaden Rhyder (10-4-0-1) allowed one score in the middle period and added 47 saves to his season total of 528. Wyatt Knott (5-4-0-0) ended his night with 35 saves for the Hawks.
The win by the home team kept them slightly ahead of the Helena Bighorns (21-10-1-0, 43 pts.) for second place as they also came out on top of their road game on Friday with the Gillette Wild, 8-3 followed by a 7-1 romp on Saturday.
The Americans team huddle after the 6-5 win over Sheridan on Saturday night. Photo Credit: GF Americans Facebook
The Great Falls Americans survived a failed comeback attempt in the third period by the visiting Sheridan (WY) Hawks to escape with a 6-5 decision on Saturday evening at the Great Falls Ice Plex. The win meant that Great Falls (at least for another week) will maintain the second place status in the Frontier Division standings. Great Falls led 6-3 with three minutes left in regulation but Sheridan was able to score twice before the final buzzer sounded.
Colton Bacon broke the scoreless tie with 10:11 remaining in the first stanza when his shot near the goal went into the net. Fisher Hannesson and Aiden Mulharen assisted on the first scoring play. The Americans scored again less than two minutes later with AJ Prioli putting the biscuit in the basket to give the home team a 2-0 advantage. The second score was set up by Jaxen Savage and Keifer Lundmark. The Americans lead was cut in half (2-1) when Sheridan’s Deagan Watson’s pass to Anthony Launderville who scored on Americans netminder Cole Murphy with six minutes to go in the first period. Lucas Paliwodzinski got a secondary assist. Sheridan contributed 12 of the 20 shots-on-goal.
Great Falls’ offense recorded two more goals during a 33 second span midway through the middle period. Ethan Miller and Wyatt Hanna each tallied one goal each to give the Americans a three-goal advantage (4-1). Miller’s first score of the contest came while the Hawks were in the sin bin with 9:47 remaining with AJ Prioli and Cooper Clouse gathering the assists. Hanna produced his seventh goal with Keegan Hanson and Keifer Lundmark collecting the assists. Before the second intermission, Elijah Farris created the second goal for the visiting Wyoming team with 6:39 left. Sean Harris and Daniel Shelden helped make the goal possible. Sheridan trimmed Great Falls’ lead to one goal (4-3) with 2:16 on the clock with a goal by Lucas Paliwodzinski. Anthony Launderville and Deagan Watson tacked on the helpers. Despite trailing, the Hawks offesne compiled 33 shots over the first two periods while limiting the Americans to 18.
Six minutes into the final period, Cooper Clouse gave the Americans another goal to give the home team a 5-3 cushion. Ethan Miller and Fisher Hannesson accrued their 25th and 10th assists, respectively. Clouse was not done scoring as he found a way to put the puck in the net for the second time tonight (17th overall) seven minutes after scoring the Americans fifth goal. Ethan Miller and AJ Prioli took advantage of the Hawks being in the penalty box and picked up the assists. The Hawks attempted a comeback by scoring two goals with under three minutes left on the clock. Caden Gleason and Jake Vukich each added one assist on Jeff Slivon’s lamplighter and then Charles Stow pulled the Hawks to within one goal (6-5) with 65 seconds remaining. Daniel Shelden and Dante Hunziker accumulated the helpers.
Despite falling on the scoreboard, Sheridan attempted twice as many shots (50-24) than Great Falls had.
The Americans turned two of the Hawks power play chances into successful scoring drives. Ethan Miller’s second period score and a third period strike by Cooper Clouse occurred while the Hawks were down a man. The Wyoming club went 0-for-4.
The trio of Cooper Clouse (2 goals, 1 assist) and Ethan Miller and AJ Prioli each contributed a goal and two assists to ensure the Americans earned the sweep over their Wyoming rivals. Anthony Launderville and Lucas Paliwodzinski combined for two goals and two assists to lead the Hawks.
Cole Murphy (9-4-1-0) rejected 45 of the 50 shot attempts by the visiting team to earn his ninth victory. TJ Wonnacott, a native of Lake City, Colorado, finished the regular season with a 2-2-0-0 record against Great Falls. He made 16 saves but saw his record drop to 10-5-1-1.
NOTES: Earlier this week, it was announced that the Great Falls Americans will resume their December 6th home game against the Bozeman Ice Dogs that was suspended due to an injury that occurred on the ice. The December home contest was stopped with 8:30 remaining in the third period with the Ice Dogs leading 2-1 and the Americans about to begin a five-minute power play. Fans are welcome to join us for the remainder of the game slated to begin at 2:00PM (MST) on Friday, January 23rd at the Great Falls Ice Plex that will be FREE to the public. Click here for the game update information.
The Americans wore special edition “Rodeo” jerseys to this weekend’s games against Sheridan. The Great Falls NA3HL team recognizes not
only the military but also the ranch/rodeo culture in Montana. Next weekend (January 15-17), the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit Finals are back in town for their annual January date at Montana ExpoPark in Great Falls.
The Americans will be auctioning off the jersey through DASH (QR code) starting Friday (January 9) through Wednesday (January 14). Place your bid using the QR Code on the right. Central Avenue Meats and Hoglund’s Work and Western Wear are sponsoring the jerseys for this weekend’s game. Fans can find more information (including the rodeo brands) in this week’s “Baldy’s Puck Drop.”
Americans forward AJ Prioli was the Frontier Division Star of the Week (3rd Star) for the week ending January 4, 2026. The forward from
Weymouth, Massachusetts scored half of the Americans goals (3) and dished out one assist in their 6-2 romp over the Butte Irish on December 31st in Great Falls and then gathered an assist in their January 3rd clash in Butte, Montana in a 6-3 victory. He now has 12 goals and 16 assists in 15 games.
AMERICANS E-NEWSLETTERS: The Americans have two email newsletters for fans to receive in their inbox this season. Kevin Scott, the Americans Media Coordinator, has an Americans E-Newsletter that you can get on Sunday’s during the regular season filled with game summaries, press releases, links, schedule, etc. Click here to subscribe (if you haven’t already).
Americans Owner Matt Leaf creates and sends out a weekly email called “Baldy’s Puck Drop” that features team news, player profile, sponsor information and lots of other tidbits relating to Americans hockey that is published on Thursday mornings. Click here to receive the weekly newsletter (if you haven’t already).
NEXT CONTEST: The Americans will travel to Rapid City, South Dakota for a pair of games against the Badlands Sabres on Friday and Saturday, January 16-17 at 7:05PM (MST) from the Roosevelt Park Ice Arena. Great Falls has won two of their previous three meetings including a 4-3 shootout win in Great Falls on September 13th. NATV will be there to give bring you all the action for both nights in South Dakota.
Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom (1101 7th Street South) is the place to be after Friday and Saturday night home games where the Americans invite their fans and supporters to their post-game dinner.
Buffalo Wild Wings, located at 17 Northwest Bypass in Great Falls, hosts the “Americans Watch Party” this season when the Americans are on the road. Fans are invited to get food and drinks and watch the game.
NATV is the NA3HL’s new streaming platform and is the place to catch all the action for fans that are unable to attend the home and away games this season. Click here to learn more about how to view any of the Americans home and away contests.
For complete schedules/results, promotions, team stats, rosters and much more information, please go to our official website: www.greatfallsamericans.com
Richard Tieman, the Chief Entertainment Officer from The F.A.N. Show interviewed Americans forward and Player of the Game, Cooper Clouse from Saturday’s win against the Sheridan Hawks. He also provided some photos posted below.
The following photos were taken and provided by Richard Tieman from The F.A.N. Show (Jan. 10, 2026)
