It is NA3HL Frontier Division rivalry week, at least in Great Falls and Helena. The top-seeded Helena Bighorns (5-0-0-0) and the #3 Great Falls Americans (3-2-0-0) battled it out on the ice for the first eight head-to-head meetings this season on Friday in Helena, Montana.
Helena and Great Falls played eight regular season contests against each along with two playoff games during the 2023-24 season with the Bighorns topping the Americans in each game. In March 2024, Great Falls had to face Helena in the 2024 NA3HL Frontier Division Semi-Finals and lost the best-of-three series in two games to end their campaign.
How have both teams done so far this year after a few weeks on the ice? Great Falls went 1-1 to open the season (Sept. 6-7) in early September against the Sheridan (WY) Hawks at home and then won both games (away/home) versus the Bozeman Ice Dogs last week. Meanwhile, the Bighorns blanked the Yellowstone (WY) Quake on the road (Sept. 6-7) in two games and then defeated the Butte Irish in an away and home series handily to remain undefeated.
Great Falls returns fourteen players for Greg Sears’ squad from their 2023-24 season while the Bighorns had ten players back on head coach Damon Hanson’s National Championship team.
The Great Falls Americans fell to the top-ranked Helena Bighorns, 7-1 at Steed Arena during Friday’s NA3HL Frontier Division junior hockey action in the first meeting of the 2024-25 season between these two rivals. Helena was led by a pair of goals from Finn Theriault. Great Falls’ Ty O’Bey recorded his seventh goal in the first period for the visiting Americans.
Great Falls’ Ty O’Bey successfully converted his seventh scoring drive in five games three minutes into the first period for the early advantage. Aiden Kennedy added his sixth assist while newcomer Carson Sears received his first. The Bighorns duo of Trey Pareja and Finn Theriault scored during a two-minute stretch before the first intermission. Pareja’s fifth score went unassisted while Chase Berg and Cai Robinson helped make Theriault’s goal possible. The home team attempted four times (28-7) as many shots as the Americans did during the first twenty minutes.
Marcus Ray, Cam Young, and Jeffrey Hershberger outscored the Americans, 3-0 in the second stanza. Caden Fenstein, Kelton Chadwick, Maddux Hale, G’bari Mayers, Marcus Ray and Austin Uecker gathered the assists for Helena. The Bighorns offense took 50 shots within the first two periods while limited the Americans to 15. Kaden Rhyder (45 saves), the netminder for Great Falls, allowed five goals before being replaced for the final period.
Kale Witt, a first-year goaltender, saw his first action and prevented 11 of 13 shots from getting into the net. Maddux Hale and Finn Theriault chipped in the two scoring plays in the third frame for the top-ranked team in the NA3HL.
Helena’s offense showed why they continue to win by ending their night with 63 shots. Great Falls managed 15 combined shots in the first and second periods to conclude their second road trip with 23.
The rivalry game saw ten power play chances go unanswered. A total of twelve minor penalties occurred in the sixty-minute affair.
Tyler Miller (2-0-0-0) was flawless in the net for the Bighorns over the final two periods. The Bismarck, North Dakota goalie redirected 22 shots. Kaden Rhyder (3-2-0-0) fell for the second time in three weeks. Rhyder’s first setback happened on September 6th home 4-3 loss to the Sheridan (WY Hawks in the first game of the season.
