By Brett Kennedy, MTN Sports (KRTV)
March 21, 2017
GREAT FALLS, MT — The Great Falls Americans hockey team is headed to the Frontier Divisional Finals…again, facing the Yellowstone Quake…again. The vicious rivalry between these two teams is obvious.
“We hate each other, absolutely hate each other, said forward Tanner Congdon. “It’s a battle. That’s everyone’s best hockey right there, you can see it in the games, everyone brings their A game.”
Congdon has been on fire lately; the Americans captain has scored back-to-back hat tricks in the semi finals last week against the Gillette Wild.
“He’s one of our captains, and not even because of that, he’s been exceptional on and off the ice, said Americans head coach Jeff Heimel. “But really I expect it from him, he’s one of those kids that works hard, does a great job, and wants to win, period. It’s special when you have that, a lot of veterans want to win, he had some very strong play last week and I expect that to continue as well as some other guys stepping up.”
The Americans finished 2-2 in the Silver Cup Championship final four last year, that’s motivating this year’s team to finish even better.
“The biggest difference is that everyone is on the same page and everyone really loves each other this year,” said goalie Nick Nast. “We’re all brothers, we all want to see each other succeed. We all want to make it as far as we can. We think we have the team that can make a big run and we’re hoping to do that now.”
The Americans will take on the Quake for game 1 this Thursday in Cody, Wyoming at 7:05 pm and game 2 will be on Friday in Great Falls at 7:30 pm.
Story Courtesy: MTN Sports (KRTV): MontanaSports.com (March 21, 2017)