The #3 Great Falls Americans (13-6-1-0) and the #4 Bozeman Ice Dogs (10-7-1-1) met on the ice for the fourth time in ten weeks on Friday.
During the weekend of September 13-14, Great Falls won the first two head-to-head meetings by three goals each night by posting a 5-2 win in Bozeman and a 4-1 victory at the Great Falls Ice Plex. Great Falls forward Ty O’Bey scored four total goals throughout the weekend and goaltender Kaden Rhyder combined for 61 saves in the weekend sweep.
On Friday, November 15th, the Americans held a 5-1 lead against the Ice Dogs with eleven minutes remaining in Great Falls. The Americans defense allowed Bozeman to score four unanswered goals to send it to an extra period where Great Falls escaped with a 6-5 win thanks to Aiden Kennedy’s game-winning tally.
Great Falls attempted to go 4-0 against Bozeman. Would the offense spark them to victory?
The Great Falls Americans improved to 10-1 when playing at the Great Falls Ice Plex this season as they defeated the #4 Bozeman Ice Dogs, 5-2 during the first night of Military Appreciation Night on Friday evening at the Great Falls Ice Plex. John Lang scored one goal each in the first and second periods and an assist in the third period to lead the home team.
The first period concluded with Great Falls and Bozeman each finding the back of the net once. The game was scoreless until the 5:24 mark when Ty O’Bey accrued his 14th assist of the season when his pass to John Lang went into the net. Ty Brander also assisted. The Ice Dogs answered with ten seconds left on a power play opportunity. TJ Kelsey gathered his sixth goal of the season off the stick of Preston Wight and Spencer Wilkinson to even the score before the first intermission. The visitors took 13 of the 18 shots-on-goal.
The middle stanza was quiet on the scoreboard until the final 82 seconds. Blayne Jusczak and Zac Orwig earned the assists on Aiden Kennedy’s tenth goal of the 2024-25 season to give the home team their second lead of the contest. The Americans were not done scoring. Great Falls’ Garren Narvaez dished out to John Lang, who connected on his second goal of the night (sixth overall) with eight seconds to go before the period concluded. Matt Beazley was also credited with an assist. Great Falls made eight shots and two goals for the 3-1 advantage.
The Ice Dogs cut into the Americans (3-2) lead early in the third frame as Sam Trufant accumulated his second goal on an unassisted play. The Americans led by two goals (4-2) two minutes later as Zac Orwig buried his eleventh score of the season with help from Jurzy Allard and Garren Narvaez. Allard’s assist was the first of his Americans career. The Ice Dogs took out starting goaltender Brett DeVincent for a minute to add an extra offensive weapon on the ice. That is Ty O’Bey made sure the host team won their tenth home contest when he put in his 17th lamplighter in the empty net. John Lan and Fisher Hannesson helped on O’Bey’s tally.
Great Falls won their fourth straight game this year by taking just 15 shots and scoring five goals. The Ice Dogs created 13 of their 25 shots before the first intermission.
Both Montana rivals received four minor infractions that resulted in eight minutes spent in the penalty box. TJ Kelsey’s first period goal was the only goal scored via a power play chance for Bozeman. The Ice Dogs went 1-for-3. Great Falls could not connect on their three power play opportunities.
Kaden Rhyder picked up another win in the net for coach Greg Sears’s squad. He is now 12-5-0-0 in 17 starts this season and the winning goalie in all four contests against the Ice Dogs. The Pennsylvania netminder finished with 23 saves while allowing two goals to get by him. Brett DeVincent, in his first year with the Ice Dogs, took his second setback against Great Falls. DeVincent (6-3-0-0) end his second game against the Americans with ten saves.
FRONTIER DIVISION UPDATE: The #1 Helena Bighorns (17-2-0-0) bounced back from last week’s loss to the #3 Great Falls Americans with an easy 7-1 win at Steed Arena on Friday evening against rival, #6 Butte Irish (9-10-1-0). Austin Uecker scored two goals while Jason Hammett, Finn Theriault and Chase Berg gave the Bighorns a 5-0 advantage after two periods. Helena outscored Butte, 2-1 in the third as Brandon Mcilhany and Maddux Hale added goals for the winning team. Tristan Ward picked up his ninth goal for Butte. Malik Johnson (26 saves) was perfect in the first two periods and allowed one goal in the third for his eleventh win in eleven games (11-0-0-0). Manny Pantow dropped to 3-5-0-0 as he compiled 33 saves in the first forty minutes. Butte backup goalie Tim Nanson made 14 saves.
Josh Serino scored three goals (hat trick), and goaltender John Simon stopped 44 shots as the #2 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (14-5-2-0) erupted for eight goals in an 8-3 win over the #7 Gillette (WY) Wild (9-11-1-0) in Sheridan, Wyoming on Friday. Sheridan led 4-2 during the first forty minutes and outscored Gillette, 4-1 in the final frame. Brady Johnson added two scores for Gillette. The winning goalie was John Simon, who improved to 7-3-0-0 after ten games. Gillette’s Wylen Cambensy (0-1-0-0) saw his first action for the Wild redirected 41 of the 49 shots in 60 minutes.
The #8 Yellowstone (WY) Quake (0-20-1-0) trailed 2-1 to the #5 Badlands (SD) Sabres (9-9-2-1) at Riley Arena in Cody, Wyoming on Friday after two periods but came back to even the score at 2-2 and forced an extra period. Three minutes into overtime, Sabres standout Patrick Gosselin lit up the lamp for the 3-2 victory and their ninth win this season and prevented the Quake from their first victory. Charlie Lorbiecki and Zach Vockler also scored for Badlands while Max Goulden and Logan Nichols scored for Yellowstone. Hunter Oger made 25 saves for his third win this season (3-2-1-0). Hayden Laforet, playing in just his third game with Yellowstone (0-1-1-0), was busy in the net recording 58 saves.
