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GREAT FALLS, MT — When Connor Barta started playing hockey for the Great Falls Junior A team four years ago, smiles were as scarce as victories.rnrn“It wasn’t good at all,” Barta said. “I think we had three coaches and won only one game. It wasn’t fun.”rnrnIn 2012, Barta was a 17-year-old junior at C.M. Russell High with aspirations of playing college hockey. He was talented enough to be the youngest member of the Americans, and optimistic enough to believe that abundant success at the Tier II Junior A level would soon follow.rnrnIt didn’t.

BOZEMAN – Josh Larson scored both of Great Falls’ first-period goals Friday night as the Americans swept their best-of-three game NA3HL Frontier Division playoff series by defeating the Bozeman IceDogs 2-1 at the Haynes Pavillion.

BOZEMAN, Mont., March 18, 2016 — The second-ranked Great Falls Americans scored two goals by Josh Larson in the opening period and avoided a comeback scare in the final period to hold on to a 2-1 win at Haynes Pavilion in Bozeman, Montana to close out the best-of-three semifinals against the Bozeman Ice Dogs. The back-to-back victories over the Ice Dogs mean the Americans have secured a spot in next week’s 2016 NA3HL Frontier Division Finals against either the top-ranked Yellowstone Quake or the fourth-ranked Gillette Wild.

GREAT FALLS, MT — The mindset was this: play “simple” hockey.rnrnThat’s what the Great Falls Americans tried to do in the overtime periods here at the Great Falls IcePlex Thursday night against the Bozeman IceDogs.rnrnJesse Johnson did it perfectly.

GREAT FALLS, Mont., March 17, 2016 — The second-seeded Great Falls Americans posted a 2-1 thrilling win over the third-ranked Bozeman Ice Dogs in Game 1 of the NA3HL Frontier Division Semi-Finals thanks to Ricards Bernhards game-winning score in the second overtime on Thursday night at the Great Falls Ice Plex.

GREAT FALLS, MT — Sound goaltending can allow hockey teams to make a lot of noise in the playoffs.rnrnThat’s why the Great Falls Americans, of the North American 3 Hockey League, are poised to do just that.rnrnThe Americans of head coach Jeff Heimel are out to defend their Frontier Division title from a season ago, and that begins Thursday night, when a first-round, best-of-three series with the Bozeman IceDogs commences at the Great Falls IcePlex. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:30.

The NA3HL gives out a weekly "Divisional Star of the Week" award during each week of the regular season.rnrnFrontier Division Star of the Week (2nd Star): Kyle Johnson, Forward, GF Americans