By Kevin Scott Oct 20, 2023
BUTTE, Mont., October 20, 2023 — The Great Falls Americans (7-5-0-0), ranked fourth in the current NA3HL Frontier Division standings, traveled to Butte, Montana to face the #7 Butte Irish (2-7-0-0) on Friday evening at the Butte Community Ice Center.
Great Falls is the fifth team (out of eight) in the Frontier Division that the Irish have played against this season after the first six weeks of competition during the 2023-24 junior hockey season. They split their weekend series against the Sheridan (WY) Hawks and the Badlands (SD) Sabres and fell in both of their two-games series against the Gillette (WY) Wild and the Helena Bighorns so far this season. The Irish, who were called the Butte Cobras last season before a name change prior to this season, are coached by Marc Brodeur, and are led by former Great Falls American and Billings, Montana native Patrick Crooks who leads the team with five goals. Colorado Springs, Colorado standout Weston Villers leads Butte with six assists.
Meanwhile, the Americans top scorer is Dmitri Kuleshov, who has one more (goal) than teammate Ty O’Bey, has nine goals in his first season with Great Falls. Wisconsin native Ty O’Bey leads coach Greg Sears’ squad with eight assists.
Sam Duehlmeier scored his first two goals of the 2023-24 season to help the #4 Great Falls Americans escape with a 5-3 road victory over the #7 Butte Irish on Friday night in Butte, Montana. This was the Americans third win in four road games so far this season. Patrick Crooks led the host team with two goals in the loss.
Butte and Great Falls each netted one goal during the first period. Kazden Stineff, one of ten returners from last season, secured his first goal with Brennen Morgan and Andrew Browe accruing the assists midway through the stanza. Great Falls would not trail for long as Great Falls’ leading scorer Dmitri Kuleshov successfully scored moments later against Butte netminder, Keegan Strong, to even the contest (1-1). Aaron James gathered his eighth assist and Jacob James was credited with his fifth (assist). The visitors attempted 22 shots leaving Butte with 12.
The Irish needed 41 seconds of the second period to regain the lead back from the Americans. Loghan Weber and Andrew Browe assisted on the fourth goal of the season by Patrick Crooks. The 2-1 lead by the home team lasted three minutes when returning defenseman from last season, Sam Duehlmeier put the puck in the net for his first scoring drive of the season for the second tie of the night. Before the period concluded, the Americans lit up the lamp twice as Ty O’Bey acquired his eighth goal and Sam Duehlmeier added his second. The assists for three scoring drives for Great Falls went to Caleb Gamboa, Cade Bendigo, Luke Pizzey, and Aaron Leaf assisted on two plays. Before the horn sounded to end the second period, Butte’s Patrick Crooks scored his second goal of the game (fifth overall) with assists going to Andrew Browe and Loghan Weber. A total of 43 shots between both teams were taken after the first intermission.
Great Falls added another goal in the third period to seal the Americans seventh win. Aaron Leaf connected on his first score of the the season with helpers coming from Ty O’Bey and Luke Pizzey.
No final shots-on-goal was reported.
Kaden Ryhder (4-1-0-0), the Frontier Division Star of the Week that ended on October 15th, sealed his fourth win in six games by producing 50 saves for the Americans. Keegan Strong (1-3-0-0) suffered his third loss in four outings for Butte. The Alaska netminder finished with 37 saves despite giving up five goals.
“THINK PINK FOR THE GIRLS” on October 29th: When the Great Falls Americans take on the Bozeman Ice Dogs on Sunday, October 29th at 2:00PM (MST) at the Great Falls Ice Plex, the hockey team wants you to join them for a fun day of hockey and friendship as they partner with “Think Pink for the Girls” to raise awareness and funding for those impacted by breast cancer. Great Falls will donate $1.00 for every ticket sold and City Motor Company, one of the Americans fine sponsors this season, will match the donation.
FRONTIER DIVISION UPDATE: The top-ranked Helena Bighorns improved to 11-0-0-0 but not before a scare by the third-ranked Bozeman Ice Dogs on Friday. Bozeman led 2-0 early before the Bighorns scored three straight goals. Camden Cunningham provided two goals and Trey Pareja prevented overtime with his seventh goal of the year with six seconds remaining in regulation for the 5-4 win. Mason Czarnecki, Andrew Kaunas, Westin Weisenburger, and Kody Wallenberg each had a tally for the Ice Dogs. Jess Schindel is now 4-0-0-0 for Helena. The Canadian goaltender registered 27 saves in the win. Matthew Ryynanen (4-3-0-0), who suffered his third loss in seven appearances, had 50 saves.
The #2 Gillette (WY) Wild (9-1-0-1) prevailed over the #5 Badlands (SD) Sabres (4-4-1-2), 5-3 in South Dakota on Friday evening. Gillette held a 3-1 advantage after the first period, but Badlands tied it with two goals in the second before the Wild added two more for ninth win in eleven contests. Five different players scored for Wyoming including Davis Paulsen, Roddick Simons, Adam Severson, Cade Vogel, and Peyton Kor. Meanwhile, Brady Ridnour scored in the first while Ryan Jordan and Easton Knoll chipped in the second period goals for the Sabres. Dominic Hite ran his record to 3-0-0-0 by stopping 12 of the 15 shots for the winning team. Badlands netminder Easton Eriksmoen (4-2-0-0) swatted away 40 shots.
Danii Viscu scored the game-winning tally for the #6 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (3-6-1-1) with 1:57 remaining in the second period as the Hawks edged the #8 Yellowstone Quake (0-11-0-0), 4-3 on Friday night in Cody, Wyoming. Neither team racked up any goals in the third frame. Kaden Lansing, Dome Szabo, Daniel Shelden and Danii Viscu scored for the Hawks. Yellowstone was denied their first win of the season but not before Owen Schoonover, Sebe Perez, and Joey Good had the tallies. Zach Broxterman (1-4-1-1) picked up his first win for Sheridan after playing the previous two seasons with the Badlands (SD) Sabres. He finished with 34 saves. John Simon had 42 saves but lost his third game (0-3-0-0) as a member of the Quake.
After every home game on Friday and Saturday nights, the Americans invite their fans and supporters to their post-game dinner at P. Gibson’s Sports Grill and Casino (1600 Fox Farm Road).
