The Great Falls Americans (21-10-1-1, 44 pts.) have won four of their six games against the Frontier Division leading Sheridan (WY) Hawks (23-9-2-1, 49 pts.) this season.
On Friday, four different players from Great Falls scored, including Ethan Miller, Cooper Clouse, AJ Prioli, and former Yellowstone Quake forward Jordan Murray, as they made their victory over the Hawks look easy. The 4-1 decision gave Great Falls their tenth home win and 20th overall victory. Jake Vukich of Sheridan prevented the shutout in the second period. Kaden Rhyder (10-4-0-1) allowed one score in the middle period and added 47 saves to his season total of 528. Wyatt Knott (5-4-0-0) ended his night with 35 saves for the Hawks.
The win by the home team kept them slightly ahead of the Helena Bighorns (21-10-1-0, 43 pts.) for second place as they also came out on top of their road game on Friday with the Gillette Wild, 8-3, followed by a 7-1 romp on Saturday.
The Great Falls Americans survived a failed comeback attempt in the third period by the visiting Sheridan (WY) Hawks to escape with a 6-5 decision on Saturday evening at the Great Falls Ice Plex. The win meant that Great Falls (at least for another week) will maintain the second place status in the Frontier Division standings. Great Falls led 6-3 with three minutes left in regulation, but Sheridan was able to score twice before the final buzzer sounded.
Colton Bacon broke the scoreless tie with 10:11 remaining in the first stanza when his shot near the goal went into the net. Fisher Hannesson and Aiden Mulharen assisted on the first scoring play. The Americans scored again less than two minutes later with AJ Prioli putting the biscuit in the basket to give the home team a 2-0 advantage. The second score was set up by Jaxen Savage and Keifer Lundmark. The Americans lead was cut in half (2-1) when Sheridan’s Deagan Watson’s pass to Anthony Launderville, who scored on Americans netminder Cole Murphy with six minutes to go in the first period. Lucas Paliwodzinski got a secondary assist. Sheridan contributed 12 of the 20 shots-on-goal.
Great Falls’ offense recorded two more goals during a 33 second span midway through the middle period. Ethan Miller and Wyatt Hanna each tallied one goal each to give the Americans a three-goal advantage (4-1). Miller’s first score of the contest came while the Hawks were in the sin bin with 9:47 remaining, with AJ Prioli and Cooper Clouse gathering the assists. Hanna produced his seventh goal with Keegan Hanson and Keifer Lundmark collecting the assists. Before the second intermission, Elijah Farris created the second goal for the visiting Wyoming team with 6:39 left. Sean Harris and Daniel Shelden helped make the goal possible. Sheridan trimmed Great Falls’ lead to one goal (4-3) with 2:16 on the clock with a goal by Lucas Paliwodzinski. Anthony Launderville and Deagan Watson tacked on the helpers. Despite trailing, the Hawks offense compiled 33 shots over the first two periods while limiting the Americans to 18.
Six minutes into the final period, Cooper Clouse gave the Americans another goal to give the home team a 5-3 cushion. Ethan Miller and Fisher Hannesson accrued their 25th and 10th assists, respectively. Clouse was not done scoring as he found a way to put the puck in the net for the second time tonight (17th overall) seven minutes after scoring the Americans fifth goal. Ethan Miller and AJ Prioli took advantage of the Hawks being in the penalty box and picked up the assists. The Hawks attempted a comeback by scoring two goals with under three minutes left on the clock. Caden Gleason and Jake Vukich each added one assist on Jeff Slivon’s lamplighter, and then Charles Stow pulled the Hawks to within one goal (6-5) with 65 seconds remaining. Daniel Shelden and Dante Hunziker accumulated the helpers.
Despite falling on the scoreboard, Sheridan attempted twice as many shots (50-24) than Great Falls had.
The Americans turned two of the Hawks power play chances into successful scoring drives. Ethan Miller’s second period score and a third period strike by Cooper Clouse occurred while the Hawks were down a man. The Wyoming club went 0-for-4.
The trio of Cooper Clouse (2 goals, 1 assist) and Ethan Miller, and AJ Prioli each contributed a goal and two assists to ensure the Americans earned the sweep over their Wyoming rivals. Anthony Launderville and Lucas Paliwodzinski combined for two goals and two assists to lead the Hawks.
Cole Murphy (9-4-1-0) rejected 45 of the 50 shot attempts by the visiting team to earn his ninth victory. TJ Wonnacott, a native of Lake City, Colorado, finished the regular season with a 2-2-0-0 record against Great Falls. He made 16 saves but saw his record drop to 10-5-1-1.
By Kevin Scott: January 10, 2026 – Great Falls, Mt
