IRISH COMPLETE WEEKEND SWEEP AGAINST THE AMERICANS

When the #4 Great Falls Americans (16-14-0-0) and the #6 Butte Irish (13-18-0-0) met on the ice during their previous five matchups, Great Falls has come out on top in three of those meetings. Great Falls was hoping to avoid a weekend sweep on Saturday by Butte as the Irish topped the Americans on Friday at the Butte Community Ice Center, 3-1. Brennan Morgan, Patrick Crooks, and Weston Villers scored to ensure a Butte win. Ty O’Bey registered a second period goal for Great Falls. The Americans were missing one of their top offensive weapons as Dmitri Kuleshov is currently suiting up for Team Australia at the 2024 IIHF U20 World Championships held in Hungary Serbia. The Great Falls Americans led the Butte Irish 2-1 after the first period before they let their lead disappear as the host team scored four unanswered goals over the final two periods for a 5-2 weekend sweep over Great Falls during Saturday’s action at the Butte Community Ice Center in Butte, Montana. Sixteen seconds into the game was all that the Americans needed to light up the lamp. Tariq Khan scored his third goal as a member of the Americans with Sebe Perez and Zac Orwig assisting on the play that got the puck through Butte netminder Braylon Rogers. The second scoring drive by Great Falls was successfully made by Phil Harrell off the stick of Zac Orwig, who picked up his second assist of the year four minutes later. The visitors advantage lasted seven minutes before Butte scored the first of their five goals. Cade Holland helped Butte cut their deficit (2-1) with eight minutes remaining in the first period. Billings, Montana native Patrick Crooks and Weston Villers helped set up the first scoring opportunity for the home team. Great Falls produced 25 of the 43 shots-on-goal. Andrew Browe opened the middle period by scoring his 13th and 14th goals in his first season with Butte to give the Irish a 3-2 lead 14 minutes into the frame. Carson Streich and Patrick Crooks accrued their second assists of the contest. Crooks now has 25 assists for the 2023-24 season. Brennan Morgan put the biscuit in the basket before the period expired. Quinn Nichols and Alex Ulyanov were credited with the assists on Butte’s fourth goal. After assisting on two scoring play in the first two periods, Patrick Crooks continued to show why he is one of the leaders for coach Marc Brodeur’s squad by scoring his 23rd goal as Weston Villers and Carson Streich contributed one assist each to the scoring play. While Great Falls’ offense created 25 assists in the first twenty minutes, they were held to just 16 total in the second and third periods. The Irish had a team-high 18 shots in the first to finish with 40. The home team took advantage of the penalties by the Americans and scored four of their five goals while Great Falls was in the sin bin. The visitors failed on their five power play chances. Both squads combined for 14 infractions that resulted in 49 minutes spent off the ice. Braylon Rogers (9-7-0-0) was the goaltender for both games against Great Falls this weekend. He earned his second win by stopping 39 of 41 shots after gathering 35 saves on Friday night. Ryan Stowe and Adler Hoagland each saw playing time for Great Falls. Stowe, who lost for the second time against Butte this season, saw his record go to 7-3-0-0 in 13 appearances. The Calgary, Alberta goalie had 21 saves in two periods of play. Adler Hoagland ended his night with 14 saves in his sixth game. FRONTIER DIVISION UPDATE: The #7 Badlands (SD) Sabres (10-15-3-3) came close to knocking off the top-ranked Gillette (WY) Wild (28-2-0-1) on Saturday in Rapid City, South Dakota in front of the home crowd but fell short in a 4-3 shootout loss. Elliot Testa, Matt Siems, and Will Sexton scored the regulation goals for the Wild while Alexander Petrotto and Zach Vockler scored two including the lamplighter that sent the game into overtime with 2:51 remaining in the third. Neither team scored in the five-minute extra period. In the shootout, Isaac Young and Wylee Gladen were each successful in their one-on-one attempts against Badlands netminder Dawson Sellner to notch their 28th win of the season. Zach Vockler got one goal by Gillette’s Cole Wheaton. The #2 Helena Bighorns (28-2-0-0) recorded their sixth shutout this season by dismantling the #3 Bozeman Ice Dogs (17-13-0-1), 10-0 on Saturday inside Haynes Pavilion in Bozeman, Montana. On Friday, Helena defeated Bozeman in Helena’s Steed Arena, 8-2. Three Helena players (Jack Lambert, Ty Moore, and Jakob Losch) combined to score six of the ten Helena goals. Both teams racked up lots of penalties for the second straight night. Bozeman was whistled for 25 penalties (246 minutes of penalty time) and Helena committed 13 penalties that resulted in 104 minutes spent off the ice. Helena capitalized on seven scoring drives while the Ice Dogs were down a man. Jesse Schindel (Helena) swatted away all 21 shots in two periods before backup Alex Lamont had two saves in 19 minutes of action. Schindel (9-0-0-0) was credited with the victory. Matthew Ryynanen allowed six goals get by him in 40 minutes. Ryynanen (12-11-0-1) had 24 saves in his eleventh regulation loss of the season. Isaac Weatherford had 26 saves in the third period. The #8 Yellowstone (WY) Quake (0-28-3-0) continue to look for their first win this season and almost did it on Friday night against the #5 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (13-16-1-1). On Friday, they lost a 4-3 decision in overtime to the Hawks. On Saturday, Sheridan held a 3-1 lead before the first intermission and scored three goals apiece in the second and third periods for a 9-1 dominating win. Daniil Viscu scored a hat trick (3 goals) and Mac Billings scored twice while netminder Joseph DaRosa (2-0-0-0) contributed 26 saves for the visiting Hawks. Leo Carter had the lone score for Yellowstone in the first twenty minutes. Sheridan’s offense attempted 84 shots-on-goal while holding the Quake to 22. Yellowstone’s Ben Delisi and John Simon combined for 75 saves but Delisi (0-8-0-0) took his eighth loss. NOTES: Forward Sebe Perez and goaltender Ryan Stowe received Honorable Mention honors for the weekly “NA3HL Stars of the Week” for the week ending December 19, 2023, for their play at the 2023 NA3HL Showcase in Blaine, Minnesota. The NA3HL also announced their “Stars of the Month” for December and three Americans were honored including Sebe Perez (Forward – Honorable Mention), Luke Pizzey (Defenseman – Honorable Mention) and Ryan Stowe (Goaltender) as an Honorable Mention nominee. In addition to Dmitri Kuleshov playing with Team Australia at the 204 IIHF U20 Division II World Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia this week, Ty O’Bey and Zac Orwig practiced with the North American Hockey League’s Fairbanks IceDogs this week. In this week’s “Baldy’s Puck Drop” Newsletter, Americans team owner Matt Leaf has a player profile of forward Aaron Leaf, player recognitions for Kuleshov, O’Bey and Orwig, sponsor information, and “Watch Party” information at The Stadium Sports Bar and Casino. NEXT CONTEST: The Americans return to the Great Falls Ice Plex for a two-game series with the Bozeman Ice Dogs on Friday and Saturday, January 12-13th at 7:00PM (MST) each night. Great Falls has been on the road since November 26th when they defeated Bozeman, 4-1. Each team has won twice in their four previous meetings this year.

IRISH COMPLETE WEEKEND SWEEP AGAINST THE AMERICANS

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