By Kevin Scott
GREAT FALLS, Mont., March 7, 2014 —After opening the 2013-14 hockey season against the Bozeman Ice Dogs, it only seemed fitting that the Great Falls Americans would end the season with the Bozeman franchise. After Bozeman grabbed an early lead, the Americans scored five unanswered goals enroute to a 6-2 victory in the final regular season game of the season for Great Falls. Great Falls received plenty of support tonight from the 869 fans in attendance for Billet Family Appreciation Night.
Bozeman grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first period with Ricky Green and Steven Nisbet finding teammate Nathan Luznar-Purdy for the first and only goal by either team. Despite being down by a goal, Great Falls managed to out-shoot the Ice Dogs 18-8.
During the first intermission, members of the 2013-14 Great Falls Americans Bantam Division championship team was introduced to the crowd at the Great Falls Ice Plex.
After having a hat trick (3 goals) the previous night against Glacier, Cody Page tied the contest off a pass from team leading assist leader, Aaron McInnis and Brady Christiaens with under 9:00 minutes to go before the second intermission. Aaron McInnis continued to impress the fans on offense as the Alaska native added an unassisted goal and found the back of the net for one more before the end of the middle period thanks to assists by Lucas Stover and Brady Christiaens.
In honor of Billet Family Appreciation Night at the Great Falls Ice Plex, the host families were brought out onto the ice during the second intermission and recognized for their dedication, support and for providing a home to the American players throughout the season.
A day after his 20th birthday, Lucas Lomax scored a pair of goals to begin the final period of the season for the home team. Lomax’s first goal nearly five minutes into the final period was assisted by Donovan Mattfeldt and Stover, who picked up his second assist of the evening. His second goal with 12:15 remaining went unassisted. Bozeman’s Gunnar Mogck scored the second goal for the Ice Dogs midway through the period. J.D. Costantini and Trey Dolezal each added the assists. Connor Barta ended up scoring the final regular season goal for the Americans with 7:39 on the clock with help from Dylan Garton and Steven Butts.
Great Falls took 44 shots against Bozeman goaltender Devin Day as he finished with 38 saves. Great Falls goaltenders Evan Hauser and Erik Powell and combined for 28 saves with starting goalie Hauser picking up the win. The game for Great Falls remained penalty free until the third period when the Americans incurred 3 infractions for 6 minutes while Bozeman piled up 6 infractions for 20 minutes of penalty time. Both teams failed to gather any points during power plays as they combined for 0-for-8 in sixty minutes of action.
Great Falls finished with their best record in their three-year history at 36-9-3 and have earned the second seed in the four-team AWHL playoffs set to begin on Tuesday, March 11th. This will be their first playoff appearance since the team was brought back in 2011.
NEXT CONTEST: The Americans begin their quest for an AWHL championship as they enter the best-of-5 playoffs in the semi-final round as the #2 seed and will face #3 seed Gillette beginning on Tuesday, March 11th at 7:30 p.m. in Gillette, WY. Great Falls will return to the Great Falls Ice Plex on Friday, March 14th at 7:00 p.m. for Game 3 and if necessary, Game 4 and 5 will be in Great Falls too. See full schedule below.
2014 AWHL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE: Best of Five
Tuesday, March 11th: Game 1: Great Falls @ Gillette Wild, 7:30 p.m., Gillette, WY
Wednesday, March 12th: Game 2: Great Falls @ Gillette Wild, 7:30 p.m., Gillette, WY
Friday, March 14th: Game 3: Gillette Wild @ Great Falls, 7:00 p.m., Great Falls Ice Plex, Great Falls, MT
Saturday, March 15th: Game 4: Gillette Wild @ Great Falls, 7:30 p.m., Great Falls Ice Plex, Great Falls, MT (if necessary)
Sunday, March 16th: Game 5: Gillette Wild @ Great Falls, 4:00 p.m., Great Falls Ice Plex, Great Falls, MT (if necessary)
| Period 1 | Period 2 | Period 3 | Final | |
| Great Falls | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Bozeman | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
First Period – 1, Bozeman, Nathan Luznar-Purdy (Ricky Green, Steven Nisbet), 16:47.
Second Period – 2, Great Falls, Cody Page (Aaron McInnis, Brady Christiaens), 8:47. 3, Great Falls, Aaron McInnis (unassisted), 12:35. 4, Great Falls, Aaron McInnis (Lucas Stover, Brady Christiaens), 15:04.
Third Period – 5, Great Falls, Lucas Lomax (Donovan Mattfeldt, Lucas Stover), 4:58. 6, Great Falls, Lucas Lomax (short-handed) (unassisted), 7:45. 7, Bozeman, Gunnar Mogck (J.D. Costantini, Trey Dolezal), 9:59. 8, Great Falls, Connor Barta (Dylan Garton, Steven Butts), 12:21.
Shots on Goal – Great Falls 44, Bozeman 30.
Power-play Opportunities – Great Falls 0-for-5, Bozeman 0-for-3.
Attendance – 869
Box Score: Glacier @ Great Falls
| Final | Great Falls Iceplex Thu, Mar 06, 2014 7:30 PM MST |
 Glacier 1 |
 Great Falls 7 |
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