The #3 Great Falls Americans (1-1-0-0) was looking to rebound on Saturday for their second game of the 2024-25 season in Great Falls, Montana after falling 4-3 to the visiting #4 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (1-1-0-0) on Friday evening. Ty O’Bey, Zac Orwig and Easton Kennedy each scored for Coach Greg Sears’ team while Vincent Leaf led all scorers for Sheridan with two goals and one assist.
Would the Americans pick up the first win on Saturday or would the Hawks earn the weekend sweep?
The Great Falls Americans earned revenge on the Sheridan (WY) Hawks during Saturday’s NA3HL junior hockey matchup. The host team defeated their Wyoming counterparts, 3-1 in front of a great crowd witnessing their first win of the season at the Great Falls Ice Plex.
Great Falls forwards Ty O’Bey and Zac Orwig each lit up the lamp in the first period as the Americans outshot the Hawks, 19-12 to take the 2-0 after the first twenty minutes. Cal Laggis and Masen Kerr assisted on O’Bey’s scoring drive 4:47 into the period while Aiden Kennedy and Easton Kennedy each picked up the assists on Orwig’s goal that occurred with 4:34 remaining while the visiting team was in the sin bin.
Garren Narvaez secured his first goal of the season with helpers from Ty O’Bey and Easton Kennedy during the second stanza. The score came with the Hawks in the penalty box. A total of 26 shots were attempted by both squads but the Hawks could not find a way to score on the Americans defense.
Sheridan managed to avoid the shutout by scoring in the third frame. Vincent Leaf, who scored two goals in Friday’s season opening contest, accrued his third with 12 minutes remaining on an unassisted play.
Despite getting outshot in the second and third periods, Great Falls finished with two more shots-on-goal after three periods (39-37).
Three of the four goals in tonight’s contest were scored while the opposing team was down a man. Great Falls went 2-for-7 while Sheridan scored their only goal in the third with Great Falls in the penalty box (1-for-8).
Kaden Rhyder improved to 1-1-0-0 on the season as Pennsylvania netminder accumulated 36 saves for Great Falls. Ryan Rainey, a newcomer for Sheridan, fell to 0-1-0-0 and swatted away 36 shots.
FRONTIER DIVISION UPDATE: A night after defeating the Yellowstone Quake 6-0 in Cody, Wyoming, the defending NA3HL National Champion, Helena Bighorns blanked the Quake, 7-0. Brandon Mcilhany and Finn Theriault each recorded two second period goals in Helena’ second straight victory of the season. Helena’s offense overpowered Yellowstone by producing 84 shots and allowing 13. Bighorns goalie Malik Johnson (1-0-0-0) redirected all 13 shots in his first game this year. Nicolas Ulyanov (0-1-0-0) made 77 saves in sixty minutes of action.
The Gillette (WY) Wild (0-1-1) gave the Butte Irish (2-0-0-0) all they could handle but eventually fell short in a 7-6 overtime setback. Gillette and Butte were tied (5-5) heading into the third period. Both Frontier Division foes traded goals, and a five-minute overtime was needed. Butte’s Loghan Weber scored his second goal of the game in the extra frame to lift the home team to their second consecutive victory to start the season undefeated after the first weekend of play. Andrew Browe, a forward for the Irish completed the game with a hat trick (3 goals) and two assists. Max Arlt led the Wild with a goal and two assists. Tim Nanson made 22 saves and is now 2-0-0-0 on the season in the net for the Irish. Jaeger Fazakas played 16 minutes and finished with 11 saves for Butte. Noah Hacker (0-1-0-0) stopped 36 shots for Gillette in their second loss of the season.
The Badlands (SD) Sabres and the Bozeman Ice Dogs will make their season debuts next week. Bozeman will host Great Falls on Friday, September 13 (7:30PM MST) from Haynes Pavilion and then the Americans will serve as the home team on Saturday, September 14 (7:00PM MST). Meanwhile, the Sabres will start their season at home in Rapid City, South Dakota when the Yellowstone (Cody, WY) Quake come to town on September 13-14 with the puck dropping at 7:05PM (MST).
