The #2 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (16-6-2-0) and the #3 Great Falls Americans (15-7-1-0) have played each other five times entering Saturday’s showdown in prime time in Great Falls.
Great Falls is 3-2-0-0 against Sheridan this season with victories on September 7th, October 4th, and November 29th and two setbacks on September 6th and October 5th.
Vlad Zubriichuk, Kiefer Dunham, Zach Longnecker and Vincent Leaf each provided goals in Sheridan’s 4-2 road win over the Great Falls Americans during Saturday’s NA3HL junior hockey action at the Great Falls Ice Plex. Garren Narvaez and Aiden Kennedy both added lamplighters in the second period in the loss.
Vlad Zubriichuk put the Hawks in front first with his eighth goal of the season. Ernest Allen and Sean Harris helped set up the first period scoring drive for the visiting Wyoming squad. Both teams totaled 13 shots-on-goal.
The Americans tied the game 7:24 into the middle period when Aiden Kennedy’s put the puck between the pipes for his 12th goal. Cooper Clouse, a forward from Fargo, North Dakota, played in his first game for the host team was able to get his first assist. John Lang also was credited with an assist. The Hawks wasted just 23 seconds to regain the lead on a goal by Kiefer Dunham. Elijah Farris and Daniel Shelden collected the assists. Garren Narvaez, the team leader in assists, answered back for Great Falls with 5:20 remaining before the second intermission when he got the puck over Sheridan netminder TJ Wonnacott for his seventh goal. The second tie of the game was made possible by Aiden Kennedy and Zac Orwig assistance. Sheridan’s offense tacked on another score with 77 seconds left to retake the lead (3-2). Vincent Leaf and Tyler Kemp contributed assists on Zach Longnecker’s ninth goal of the year. Despite trailing on the scoreboard, Great Falls made 32 shots while limiting Sheridan to 29 after forty minutes of action.
Vincent Leaf made sure the home team would not go 2-0 this weekend as he added a goal with 3:53 remaining in the third stanza to lift the Hawks to their 16th victory in 24 contests. Elijah White and Logan Hume added the assists.
The Wyoming NA3HL club needed 35 shots to score four goals. Great Falls accrued 37 of their 50 after the first intermission.
The game saw each team go 0-for-2 on the power play and commit three minor penalties apiece.
The winning netminder was TJ Wonnacott. The Sheridan goaltender won his fifth game of the season (5-2-2-0) by swatting away 48 shots provided by Great Falls’ offense. Patrick Forsythe, who played in his fourth game this season, fell to 2-1-1-0 in the loss. The Canadian acquired 31 saves.
FRONTIER DIVISION UPDATE: Trey Pareja (three goals, hat trick) and Austin Uecker (2 goals) helped the #1 Helena Bighorns (20-2-0-0) win big over the #7 Gillette (WY) Wild (9-14-1-0) on Saturday, 8-3 at the Spirit Hall Ice Arena in Gillette, Wyoming. Hudson Fisher and Christopher Lang scored for the Wild in the first and Riley Schmidt added another score in the second to lead the home team. The Bighorns and Wild were tied at 3-3 after two periods before Helena went on a 5-0 run in the third frame for their 20th win in 22 games. Zane Hill (1-0-0-0) from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, made his first start for Helena and picked up the win with his 21 save performance. Tate Cothern got the start for Gillette accounting for 24 saves in 33 minutes before being replaced by Wylen Cambensy, who had eight saves and fell for the second time this season (0-2-0-0).
The #4 Badlands (SD) Sabres (10-9-2-2) moved past the #5 Bozeman Ice Dogs (11-9-1-1) in the Frontier Division standings with a 5-3 win at Haynes Pavilion. Bozeman and Badlands were even at 3-3 until the final 4:25 when the Sabres scored twice to put the game away. Charlie Lorbiecki, Thayne Coston, Zack Vockler, Kyyan Jahner and Gaven Marx each put the biscuit in the basket for the winning side. Baron Masopust, Devin Bruns, and Sam Trufant chipped in the goals for the Ice Dogs. Hunter Oger (5-2-1-0) had 27 saves in his fifth win of the season for Badlands. Brett DeVincent (7-5-0-0) had 39 saves for Bozeman.
Bobby Anselmo of the #5 Butte Irish (11-11-1-0) led his team in scoring with two goals and one assist as the Irish blanked the #8 Yellowstone (WY) Quake (0-23-1-0), 7-0 at the Butte Community Ice Center on Saturday evening. Five Irish additional scorers saw the back of the net for Butte including Toby Kerr, Keegan Adams, Easton Langemo, Andrew Browe and Kazden Stineff. Butte’s offense racked up 73 shots-on-goal and limited the Quake to 30. Tim Nanson improved to 6-5-1-0 as he prevented 30 shots from going in the net for the Irish. Yellowstone’s Hayden Laforet’s record fell to 0-3-1-0 despite gathering 50 saves. Matthew Neeser also had 16 saves for Yellowstone.
