The #3 Great Falls Americans and the #4 Gillette (WY) Wild tangled again on the ice on Saturday for the second time in as many nights.
The Americans first encounter with the Wild occurred on Friday night when the Wild held a 3-1 advantage after two periods and defeated the Montana squad, 6-3. Max Arlt, a first year forward from Minnesota, scored two lamplighters and one assist while goaltender Tate Cothern (4-3-1-0) stopped 28 shots for Wyoming. Garren Narvaez added two scores and Aiden Kennedy added one for the Americans. Kaden Rhyder (9-5-0-0) took his fifth loss of the season.
Tai Kontrac scored two goals including the overtime winning tally to lift the Gillette (WY) Wild (9-8-1-0) to a 4-3 weekend sweep against the #3 Great Falls Americans (10-6-1-0) during Saturday’s NA3HL action at the Spirit Hall Ice Arena in Gillette, Wyoming. Great Falls remains in the third spot in the Frontier Division but losses on Saturday night (see below) by the Butte Irish and the Bozeman Ice Dogs propelled the Wild to jump two places to the fourth spot.
The first period came and went with Americans standout Ty O’Bey scoring the lone goal with nine minutes remaining. The Wisconsin native chipped in his 15th goal of the season with Zac Orwig and Aiden Kennedy creating the assists.
Gillette’s Tai Kontrac and Chase Hapka each scored during the opening five minutes of the second period to give them a 2-1 lead. Brady Johnson, Braydin Lund, Chase Borene and Dylann Peterson tallied the assists. Before the period concluded, Gillette would get a goal by Chase Borene off a pass from Zach Lebens and Tai Kontrac and the Americans accrued their second goal of the contest. Jurzy Allard, a new comer for Great Falls, playing in his second game, put the puck in the back of the net with 1:40 left as Garren Narvaez and Zac Orwig pulling the Americans to within a goal (3-2).
The 3-2 score would remain that way until Aiden Kennedy evened the score (3-3) with 4:12 left on the clock in the third period to send the game into an extra frame. Defenseman Matt Beazley and forward John Lang garnered the assists.
The host team put the game away in overtime as Tai Kontrac received his second goal of the game (ninth overall this season) 79 seconds into the five-minute overtime to earn the weekend sweep over Great Falls. Braydin Lund and Max Arlt set up the game-winning play.
Great Falls finished the second and third stanzas by taking 16 shots apiece to end their seventeenth game of the season with 43. The Wild needed 30 shots to boost them to their ninth victory.
Both junior hockey squads combined for eleven minor infractions resulting in 22 minutes of penalty time. Great Falls went 1-for-4 on the power play as Ty O”Bey’s first period score came with the Wild in the sin bin. Five power play opportunities went unanswered by the Wild.
Tate Cothern (5-3-0-0) made 40 saves (allowed three goals) and defeated the Americans for the second consecutive night. Patrick Forsythe saw action in the net for the second time this season. The first-year netminder from Balmertown, Ontario, Canada, stopped 26 of 30 shots in 61 minutes and is now 1-1-0-0.
FRONTIER DIVISION UPDATE: The #4 Bozeman Ice Dogs (9-6-0-1) redeemed themselves on Saturday evening against the #2 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (11-5-2-0) after falling to the Wyoming squad, 4-3 on Friday in Bozeman, Montana. Cole Schowengerdt, Sage Courchene, Tyler Klingbeil and Andrew Kaunas recorded the goals for the Ice Dogs. Charles Stow’s pass to Elijah Farris in the first period was the only score that Bozeman’s defense would allow. Isaac Weatherford redirected 29 of the 30 shots he encountered. The second-year goaltender from Parkville, Missouri earned his first win of the season (1-1-0-1). He went 3-2-0-0 as a member of the Ice Dogs during the 2023-24 season. TJ Wonnacott (4-1-2-0) ended the game with 22 saves.
The #7 Badlands (SD) Sabres (6-9-2-1) scored three of their five goals in the first period to earn the weekend split against the #6 Butte Irish (9-8-0-0). The 5-2 victory inside the Butte Community Ice Center gave the South Dakota squad their sixth win of the season. Zach Vockler scored three goals (hat trick) for the Sabres. Loghan Weber and Andrew Browe did all the scoring for Butte in the first stanza. A 33-save performance gave Jackson Roethler his first win of the year (1-4-0-0). Tim Nanson and Manny Pantow played in the net for the Irish and they each produced 26 saves.
After having this weekend off, the #1 Helena Bighorns (15-1-0-0) will make the short trip to Butte, Montana for a single contest against the Irish on Friday, November 15th at 7:30PM (MST). The #8 Yellowstone (WY) Quake (0-18-0-0) will be looking to get their first victory when they face the Sheridan (WY) Hawks on the road on Friday, November 15th at 7:30PM (MST).
