SHERIDAN, Wyo., October 4, 2024 — The third meeting took place on Friday night between the #2 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (6-2-1-0) and the #3 Great Falls Americans (5-3-0-0) inside the home arena of the Hawks.
The Americans and the Hawks each took a victory in the 2024-25 NA3HL season opener during the weekend of September 6-7th in Great Falls.
Sheridan topped the Americans, 4-3 on September 6th with Vincent Leaf leading the way for head coach JJ Santagata’s squad with two goals and one assist. A pair of Americans (Zac Orwig and Easton Kennedy) earned one goal and dished out one assist in the setback. Sheridan netminder John Simon made 32 saves while Americans goaltender Kaden Rhyder stopped 43 shots.
Great Falls bounced back and defeated Sheridan, 3-1 on September 7th. Great Falls’ Ty O’Bey and Zac Orwig each scored in the first stanza while teammate Garren Narvaez added one in the middle period to take a 3-0 lead. Vincent Leaf lit up the lamp in the third frame to deny the Americans the shutout. Kaden Rhyder received his first victory by securing 36 saves. Ryan Rainey (28 saves) took the loss for the visitors.
Great Falls was looking for their second road victory after defeating the Bozeman Ice Dogs on September 13th, 5-2 in Bozeman, Montana.
Great Falls Americans forward Zac Orwig scored a hat trick (three goals) and had one assist as the Great Falls Americans handed the Sheridan (WY) Hawks a 5-1 loss on Friday evening in Sheridan, Wyoming. Easton Kennedy and Garren Narvaez each contributed three assists for Great Falls.
The scoring came easily (and often) for the Americans during the first period. After Aiden Kennedy scored 31 seconds into the game off the stick of Easton Kennedy and newcomer John Lang tacked on his first goal in his first outing as an American, it was the Zac Orwig show.
Orwig, a returning forward from Hopkins, Minnesota, scored three consecutive goals throughout the first and second periods. He also added one assist. Easton Kennedy and Garren Narvaez assisted on three scoring chances while Ty O’Bey, Aiden Kennedy and Garrett Driscoll also helped set up the three scoring drives for the Americans.
The visiting Americans led 5-0 until the seven-minute mark when Sheridan’s Vlad Zubriichuk connected on his fifth goal of the season with assistance from Elijah Farris and Derrek Laite.
Despite nine shots-on-goal in the third frame from Great Falls and Sheridan, neither team was able to successfully find the back of the net.
Both squads combined for 81 shots-on-goal, seven infractions and 1-for-6 on the power play during the sixty-minute contest. The lone score by Vlad Zubriichuk of the Hawks in the third frame came while the Americans were in the penalty box.
Another victory was added to the resume of Americans netminder Kaden Rhyder, who now is 5-2-0-0 on the season. Rhyder finished with 39 saves. John Simon is now 2-1-0-0 including a September win against Great Falls. The Fargo, North Dakota netminder who spent parts of last season with the Hawks and Yellowstone (WY) Quake, had 36 saves.
FRONTIER DIVISION UPDATE: The #1 Helena Bighorns (7-1-0-0) bested the #4 Gillette (WY) Wild (4-4-1-0) on the road in Wyoming, 4-2. Austin Uecker, Brandon Mcilhany, Kade Pareja, and Jason Hammett all scored for the Bighorns. Max Arlt scored in the first period and Caleb Johannes added one in the second frame to account for the scoring for the Wild. Helena outshot Gillette, 42-16 with 17 shots occurring in the opening stanza. Malik Johnson remains perfect in the net for Helena (4-0-0-0). He stopped 14 shots on the night in his second season with the Bighorns. Tate Cothern recorded 38 saves and is now 2-2-0-0 after four games with the Wild.
The Butte Irish (3-5-0-0), #7 in the eight team Frontier Division in the latest rankings, scored eleven times including five in the first period to easily claim an 11-2 victory over the #8 Yellowstone (WY) Quake (0-9-0-0). Austin Langemo finished with a hat trick (3 goals) while Loghan Weber and Kazden Stineff provided two for the Irish. Travis Lindsey and Max Goulden each scored once in the final period for the Quake. Butte’s Tim Nanson has three wins in five games (3-2-0-0) and ended the contest with 19 saves. Meanwhile, Nicolas Ulyanov (0-3-0-0) and backup netminder Nate Whitson combined for 65 saves in the Quake’s ninth loss of the year.
The #5 Bozeman Ice Dogs (4-2-0-0) needed a shootout to get by the visiting #6 Badlands (SD) Sabres (3-2-1-1) on Friday in Bozeman, Montana. Bozeman’s Andrew Kaunas and Lex Steckelberg and Ole Svangstu and Zack Vockler of Badlands all scored in regulation for their respective clubs. Neither team scored during the five-minute overtime. In the shootout, Tyler Klingbeil and Andrew Kaunas lit up the lamp for the Ice Dogs. Ole Svangstu was the lone scorer for the Sabres.
