By Sheridan (WY) Press (Newspaper)
Sheridan, WY., April 9, 2021 —The North American 3 Hockey League Great Falls Americans snapped the Sheridan Hawks’ 41-game winning streak with a 7-3 win Friday in game two of the Frontier Division finals. The loss was the Hawks’ first since Oct. 3, 2020 and forced a game three in the best-of-three game playoff series.
The Americans forward Micah Serino beat Hawks goaltender Cristian Wong-Ramos on a 2-on-1 rush to give Great Falls an early 1-0 lead in the first period, though Sheridan forward Nathan Gilleshammer scored 44 seconds later to tie the game.
Forward Alex Jackson banged a loose puck home on a power play at 12:12 of the first period, and the Americans took a 2-1 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes of play.
erino scored his fifth goal of the NA3HL playoffs as the result of an odd bounce, and Great Falls led 3-1 just 1:07 into the second period. The flukey goal prompted head coach Andy Scheib to pull goaltender Wong-Ramos and replace him with James Downie.
Just over 11 and a half minutes passed before the Americans extended their lead to 4-1 off a goal from forward Garret Weisenburger. Before the second period ended, forward Bryson Fletcher scored with 10 seconds left in the second frame to give Great Falls a 5-1 lead.
Fletcher’s goal came on the power play, and forward Jake Hayes’ third period goal at 6:25 also came on the man-advantage to give the Americans a five-goal lead. Fletcher scored his second of the night on the power play, as well, 20 seconds later to push the lead to 7-1.
With over nine minutes left to play and the Hawks on a power play, Scheib pulled Downie for an extra attacker and defenseman Brice French netted his second of the playoffs to cut the Americans’ lead to 7-2.
Forward Jacob Cummings scored with 1:41 left in the game, though the 7-3 score stood and handed the Hawks their first loss in 189 days.
The Hawks return to the Whitney Rink Saturday in the finale of the Frontier Division finals. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.
Story Courtesy: Sheridan (WY) Press Newspaper: Great Falls snaps NA3HL’s Sheridan Hawks 41-game winning streak (April 9, 2021)