After the #1 Helena Bighorns (37-3-1-1) and the #5 Bozeman Ice Dogs (24-16-1-1) defeated the #3 Great Falls Americans (24-14-4-2) last weekend, Great Falls was looking to try to clinch or reach the postseason by taking on the #4 Badlands (SD) Sabres (23-14-4-3) in Rapid City, South Dakota for a pair of weekend contests.
Due to the NA3HL schedule, the Americans have only played the Sabres for two games on October 11-12 at the Great Falls Ice Plex. The home team allowed the visitors to score just one goal in each game as the Americans won 3-1 (October 11) and 4-1 (October 12) during their October matchup. Easton Kennedy, Blake Komrofske, and Blayne Jusczak all scored and starting netminder Kaden Rhyder gathered 27 saves. In the 4-1 win the following night, Komrofske, Aiden Kennedy, Ty O’Bey and John Lang made the scoring drives for the Montana NA3HL squad while Rhyder took another win in the net by stopping 24 of the 25 shots sent his way.
Ty O’Bey (28 goals, 62 points) and Garren Narvaez (35 assists) lead head coach Greg Sears’ Americans squad while Zack Vockler (32 goals, 58 points) and Ryan Jordan (42 assists) lead the Sabres under the direction of head coach Brooks Mitzel.
Could Great Falls get back to their winning ways with a road win in South Dakota?
Aiden Kennedy scored two goals before the second intermission to lift the #3 Great Falls Americans to a 4-0 road victory over the # 4 Badlands Sabres during Friday’s NA3HL junior hockey action at the Roosevelt Park Ice Arena in Rapid City, South Dakota. Kaden Rhyder stopped all 31 shots for this fourth shutout victory of the season.
With the win over the Sabres, the Americans (at least temporarily) have moved up to the third spot from fourth while Badlands moved from second to fourth as the Sheridan Hawks defeated the Yellowstone (WY) Quake tonight to move up to the second seed.
Great Falls opened the contest by taking 14 shots and scoring one goal for the 1-0 lead after the first period. The visiting team needed 30 seconds for their first and only score of the period by Aiden Kennedy with Garren Narvaez, the team assist leader (35 assists) and Zac Orwig setting up the goal. Badlands took eleven shots against Americans starting netminder Kaden Rhyder but failed to put the puck in the net.
After the first intermission, the Americans scored their second goal 85 seconds into the middle stanza when Chase Hapka netted his 18th goal of the year with Gavin Denis and Ty O’Bey getting credit for the assists on the power play tally. Seven minutes later, Aiden Kennedy delivered his second score and 23rd overall with helpers from Cal Laggis and Zac Orwig to give the Americans a three-goal lead.
The Americans added one more goal in the third period by Jurzy Allard to complete the shutout. John Lang assisted for the 25th time and Ty O’Bey picked up his 34th assist this season
Great Falls and Badlands combined for 62 shots-on-goal.
The Americans committed two minor penalties in the first period while the host team was whistled for one minor infraction in each period.
Kaden Rhyder (20-10-2-0) earned his fourth shutout of the season by redirecting all 31 shots for this 20th win. He is now 3-0-0-0 against the Sabres this season. Riley Swanson (27 saves) is now 5-5-0-1 including 3-4-0-1 record while he was a member of the Rochester Grizzlies.
FRONTIER DIVISION UPDATE: Ty Schell scored twice while teammates Trey Pareja, Kelton Chadwick, Chase Berg, Caden Fenstein and Maddux Hale each added one goal as the #1 Helena Bighorns (37-3-1-1) easily defeated the #5 Bozeman Ice Dogs (24-16-1-1) on the road in Bozeman, Montana on Friday, 7-1. Bozeman’s Andrew Kaunas stopped the shutout in the third period with a goal coming with 8:15 remaining. Helena outshot Bozeman, 57-22. Branson Appelman started the game, but Tyler Miller picked up the win (12-2-1-0) by stopping 21 shots for Helena. Brett DeVincent (15-9-0-0) played for 51 minutes and racked up 45 saves in the loss. Isaac Weatherford played for the remaining eight minutes and prevented five of six shots from getting into the net.
The #6 Butte Irish (18-22-1-3) scored all four of their goals before the third period and edged the #7 Gillette (WY) Wild (18-25-1-0), 4-3 in Gillette, Wyoming on Friday evening. Bobby Anselmo of Butte scored two goals in the middle period to lead the scoring for the Irish. Dantae Hunziker scored in the first and third periods for the Wild. Both teams combined for 18 penalties that resulted in 112 minutes in the sin bin. Mathieu Chernauckas (2-0-0-0), who played three games this season with the Binghamton Buzz and won one game, got his second overall win in his first start with the Irish by gathering 30 saves. Meanwhile, Austin Trieber (5-9-0-0) made 22 saves in 40 minutes before backup Wylen Cambensy came in relief.
The #2 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (26-13-2-1) offense lit up the lamp four times in the first and second periods to take a commanding 8-1 lead before the third period. They erupted for seven more goals in the final period for the 15-2 victory over the #8 Yellowstone (WY) Quake (1-40-1-0) in Cody, Wyoming on Friday. The Hawks had two players receive hat tricks (three goals), Deagan Watson and Vincent Leaf. Kiefer Dunham and Zach Longnecker each put the puck in the net twice for Sheridan. The Hawks took advantage of the power play and scored three goals while the Quake were in the penalty box. The Hawks attempted 86 shots while allowing the Quake to take 19. Sam Goulden and Cassius Hook scored their goals after the first period for Yellowstone. Francesco Sciabbarrasi (2-0-0-0) has now played three games for Sheridan and made 17 saves in the net to help his team to victory. Tucker Bayly fell to 0-3-0-0. Bayly was busy in the net swatting away 71 shots for the Quake.
