Four wins in five contests. That is the #3 Great Falls Americans (22-12-3-0) head-to-head record entering Wednesday’s meeting with the #5 Bozeman Ice Dogs (19-14-1-1).
Great Falls won two matchups in September and two in November before falling to the Ice Dogs, 4-3 in their December 6th road matchup in Bozeman, Montana. Ty O’Bey registered two goals and John Lang added two assists in the setback. Andrew Kaunas and Lex Steckelberg scored one goal and one assist each in the win.
Wednesday’s game was played in Havre, Montana (100 miles from Great Falls) at the Havre Ice Dome as the Americans were scheduled for a January 25th home game with Bozeman but a youth hockey tournament was scheduled for that weekend at the Great Falls Ice Plex and plans had to change in order to accommodate that tournament.
Havre is no stranger to Junior A hockey in the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) as they had a franchise from 2014-17 called the Glacier Nationals, who moved prior to the 2014 season from Whitefish, Montana.
Great Falls Head Coach Greg Sears is led by Ty O’Bey (27 goals, 52 points), Garren Narvaez with 31 assists and goaltender Kaden Rhyder, who is having a stellar season between the pipes with an 18-8-1 record and is 17th in the NA3HL with a Goals-Against Average (GAA) of 2.549. He also has 853 saves, a 0.927 save percentage and is 4-1 when playing against the Ice Dogs.
Forward Devin Bruns, a Chicago, Illinois product leads coach Mike Perkins’ squad with 20 goals, 25 assists (45 points). Brett DeVincent is 11-8-0-0 in the net including two losses to Great Falls. The San Jose, California native has 714 saves and a 0.921 save percentage.
Could Great Falls go 5-1 against Bozeman on neutral ice or would the Ice Dogs get their second win over Great Falls?
The #5 Bozeman Ice Dogs never trailed in their neutral site game in Havre, Montana against the #3 Great Falls Americans and found themselves taking home a 5-2 decision at the Havre Ice Dome during a rare Wednesday NA3HL contest.
Thanks to a goal by Tyler Klingbeil, the Ice Dogs led 1-0 after the first period. Bozeman natives Spencer and Reid Wilkinson each assisted on the power play score for the visitors. Both teams acquired a dozen shots-on-goal.
In the middle period, Great Falls’ Aiden Kennedy put in the equalizer five minutes into the stanza. Chase Hapka and Fisher Hannesson offered the assistance. Bozeman’s Dan Upton answered with 7:46 remaining to give the Ice Dogs the lead back (2-1). He sent the puck off the crossbar and in for his fourth goal of the season with Tyler Klingbeil getting his first assist of the night. Before the period concluded, Bozeman held a two-goal lead as Matthew Stamp found the back of the net with assistance from TJ Kelsey and Reid Wilkinson. The Ice Dogs took twice as many shots (18-9) as their opponents.
Bozeman and Great Falls traded goals in the final frame. Patrick Forsythe replaced starting goaltender Kaden Rhyder in the final period for the Americans. Spencer Wilkinson, after getting an assist in the first period, recorded his twelfth goal of the season during the opening two minutes. Baron Masopust was credited with the assist. The Americans pulled to within two goals (trailing 4-2) as Garren Narvaez accumulated his 13th goal off the stick of Aiden Kennedy and Sebe Perez with 7:25 left on the clock. While Forsythe was out so the Americans could add another scorer, the Ice Dogs buried a goal in the empty net with under two minutes remaining. Spencer Wilkinson collected his second assist as teammate Preston Wight answered with his second scoring drive of the year.
Bozeman tallied 18 shots in the second and third periods to finish with 48 shots while Great Falls accrued 21 of their 31 shots before the third period.
Both clubs scored on one of their power play opportunities. The Wednesday night contest saw a combined total of 13 minor infractions being called by the NA3HL on-ice officials.
Jack Ryan (Bozeman) picked up his fifth victory (5-5-0-0) to improve to 2-1 against the Americans this season. Ryan, who calls Denver, Colorado home, swatted away 29 shots in the road win. Kaden Rhyder fell to 18-8-1 on the season. He made 27 saves and allowed three goals for Great Falls during the first two periods. Patrick Forsythe made 16 saves in the third period.
