By Kevin Scott
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GILLETTE, Wyo., January 19, 2018 — The Great Falls Americans (21-9-2) played the Gillette Wild twice two weekends ago and came out on the losing end before an energetic crowd in Great Falls.
Great Falls was seeking revenge in hopes to get to 0.500 in January.
Weston Goodman scored the only goal in the Americans 2-1 shootout victory over the Gillette Wild during Friday’s exciting NA3HL contest in Gillette, Wyoming. Drew Scites stopped 28 shots in the net for the winning team.
Both squads skated well during the first period, but neither could put the biscuit in the basket. There were 19 shots taken but none were converted for scores.
The Americans and Wilds each scored once after the first intermission in the first game of their two-game series in Wyoming. Americans standout Payton McSharry dished off to Matt Janke to tally the first points of the contest with 13:19 left on the clock. Gillette tied up the contest at 1-1 on a power play score by Austin Easten, who netted his fourth goal of the season midway through the second stanza. Cody Walters and Josh Smith were each credited with assists while the Americans were in a penalty situation.
Since neither team was able to put the puck into the net in the third period or in the five-minute overtime, a shootout was necessary.
Weston Goodman of Great Falls was the only player to score a goal during the one-on-one shootout against Gillette netminder Cody Grogan. The first six Americans (Jens Juliussen, Michael Houlihan, Payton McSharry, Cody Dearing, Kyler Mack, and Matt Janke) failed to convert their shootout attempts.
This was the first shootout that Great Falls encountered this season.
Gillette converted one of their five power play opportunities for a score. Austin Easten had the only score for the Wild. The eleven total infractions produced by these two Frontier Division rivals resulted in 30 minutes of penalty time in the sin bin.
Drew Scites recorded 28 saves for Great Falls, as he survived Gillette’s seven-player attack in the shootout. In the loss, Cody Grogan came away with 44 saves.
NEXT CONTEST: Great Falls finishes up their final game in Gillette, Wyoming for the season on Saturday, January 20th. The game is slated to start at 7:05PM.