Last weekend, the 2024-25 NA3HL regular season concluded after each team played 47 regular season contests. Playoff hockey in the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) is now in session.
This week, the top four finishers in each of the five NA3HL divisions (East, West, Frontier, South and Central) meet in the 2025 NA3HL Divisional Playoffs with the semifinal round (March 13-16) this week with the winning teams meeting in the Divisional Finals on March 20-23.
The winning team (all series in all rounds are best-of-three) in each of the divisions plus one wild card team will be invited to play at the 2025 NA3HL Fraser Cup (National) Championships slated to start on March 26-30, 2025, in St Peters, Missouri at the St. Peters Rec Plex. The national tournament features each team playing two (round robin) games followed by a semifinal round (two games) and the national championship game.
The Frontier Divisional Semi-Final round features the #4 Badlands (SD) Sabres (26-15-4-3) facing off against the #1 Helena Bighorns (41-5-1-1) and the #3 Great Falls Americans (27-15-4-2) challenge the #2 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (29-15-3-1) with the best-of-three winning squads moving on to face each other in the Frontier Division Finals.
The Badlands Sabres hosted the Helena Bighorns on Wednesday, March 12 in Rapid City, South Dakota for Game 1 of the Frontier Division Semifinals. The Sabres were on a mission to take down the Bighorns on their home ice and they accomplished one of their goals, defeating the 2024 NA3HL National Champions, 5-4. Each team scored once in the first period and then Badlands outscored the Bighorns 3-2 in the middle period for the 4-3 advantage. The score remained that way until the final four minutes of the third period when Rylan Sabo of the Sabres scored against Helena netminder Tyler Miller for the two-goal lead. Helena’s Austin Uecker scored with 66 seconds remaining to pull his team to within one 5-4, but the comeback attempt would be denied for the visiting team from Montana. Ryan Jordan led the way for the winning club with two goals. Ethan Seanor, Gaven Marx, and Rylan Salo all got in the scoring column for South Dakota. Four different players (Jeffrey Hershberger, Caden Fenstein, Finn Theriault and Austin Uecker) accounted for the goals for Helena. Jackson Roethler (Badlands), who is now 7-5-1-0 including the first playoff contest, played all sixty minutes finishing with 42 saves and allowing four goals as the netminder for the home team. Tyler Miller (14-3-1-0) took the rare loss by swatting away 26 shots in his first appearance against Badlands this season. Badlands and Helena will play their second game of the series at Steed Arena in Helena, Montana on Friday night (March 14) at 7:05PM (MST). Helena needs to win to keep their season alive.
Meanwhile, Great Falls was looking to steal their first playoff game with a road victory over the Sheridan (WY) Hawks on Thursday night at Whitney Rink in the M&M’s Center. Great Falls and Sheridan split their series with each opponent winning four games in regulation. The Americans played well at the Great Falls Ice Plex this season picking up 15 wins in front of the home fans and swept the Butte Irish, who failed to make the playoffs, in the last week of the regular season to clinch the third spot in the playoffs.
Sheridan got swept in two games last weekend to the Badlands Sabres and finished the year with 15 home victories.
Sheridan Hawks forward Josh Serino scored two goals and had one assist as the #2 Sheridan (WY) Hawks blanked the #3 Great Falls Americans, 4-0 during Game 1 of the 2025 NA3HL Frontier Division Semifinals in Sheridan, Wyoming on Thursday night.
Both defenses held up during the first period. Despite a combined total of 30 shots-on-goal, Great Falls and Sheridan could not come away with any successful scoring drives.
Josh Serino, one of three players on Sheridan’s roster that hails from Alaska, scored twice during the second period. Serino’s first goal came with 15:20 left before the second intermission. Elijah White and Zach Longnecker each earned one assist to give the Hawks a 1-0 advantage. Zach Longnecker collected his second playoff assist and Vincent Leaf also added a helper on Josh Serino’s second goal of the game midway through the stanza. The final ten minutes went scoreless with Sheridan outshooting Great Falls, 17-10.
The home team was not done scoring. Anthony Launderville tacked on the Hawks third goal six minutes into the final period of regulation with assistance from Logan Sidlauskas and Ernest Allen. Great Falls took out starting goaltender Kaden Rhyder to add an extra offensive player on the ice with two minutes remaining in the contest. Kiefer Dunham took advantage of the empty net and scored Sheridan’s fourth goal before the game concluded. Josh Serino and Logan Hume set up the final scoring opportunity for the Hawks.
Sheridan attempted 31 of their 46 total shots before the third period. Great Falls ended their first playoff game with 41 shots including 15 in the third frame.
Both teams combined for six minor penalties during the sixty-minute affair. The Americans went 0-for-2 on the power play.
John Simon, a product of Fargo, North Dakota, redirected all 40 shots taken by the Americans offense. Kaden Rhyder accumulated 42 saves for Great Falls in the setback.
