The Great Falls Americans (30-14-2-1) have played 47 regular-season games during the 2025-26 North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) as the season comes to a close.
For four other teams in the Frontier Division (Bozeman Ice Dogs, Gillette (WY) Wild, Yellowstone (WY) Quake, and the Americans opponent in Saturday’s home finale, the Butte Irish), their season has been completed and will return after the offseason in September 2026.
The #1 Sheridan (WY) Hawks, #2 Helena Bighorns, #3 Great Falls Americans, and the #4 Badlands (SD) Sabres are still alive as they participate in the 2026 NA3HL Fraser Cup Playoffs. The first round is the Frontier Division Semi-Finals, where #1 Sheridan will challenge #4 Badlands, and #2 Helena plays host to #3 Great Falls.
Before Great Falls could look toward the playoffs, they needed to finish some business with the Butte Irish on Saturday evening at the Great Falls Ice Plex. The annual home regular-season finale serves as the Billet Family Appreciation Night, where host families get recognized on the ice for hosting their respective players.
During Friday’s final game in Butte (11-36-0-0), the Americans built a 3-1 advantage in the third frame before allowing two goals by the Irish, including the last one with two minutes remaining to force an extra period. The Americans were 16 seconds away from possibly going to a shootout, but Butte’s Keegan Adams buried the game-winning tally for the 4-3 overtime win. Riley Hattan, Cooper Clouse, and AJ Prioli scored the three goals for the Americans. Jacob Avgustovskiy scored twice while Bryce Hodges and Keegan Adams put in the goals for Butte’s 11th victory.
There are four contests (none in the Frontier Division) that will finish their season on Sunday, March 8th, but most of the squads in the six-division North American 3 Hockey League ended their regular season on Saturday.
The Americans (30-14-2-1, 63 pts.) finished in third place, trailing the #1 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (34-10-2-1, 71 pts.) and the #2 Helena Bighorns (34-12-1-0, 69 pts.). Great Falls won 30 of their 47 total contests, with 18 victories coming in front of the fans at the Great Falls Ice Plex.
Last season, Great Falls finished with an overall record of 29-17-4-2 advancing to the Frontier Division Finals, where they fell to the Helena Bighorns in two games.
The Great Falls Americans cruised by the Butte Irish with an 8-0 shutout victory as the Americans celebrated their annual Toyota Billet Family Appreciation Night and their 30th win on the final day of the 2025-26 NA3HL regular season in Great Falls on Saturday night. Ethan Miller led the way with two goals, and goaltender Kaden Rhyder put on a dominating performance, stopping all 26 shots in the net.
Great Falls’ Ethan Miller broke the scoreless first period with 2:24 left before the first intermission on a scoring play near the goal. AJ Prioli and Cooper Clouse earned their 35th and 64th assists of the season, respectively, with the Irish in the penalty box. The Americans led 1-0 after the first twenty minutes, outshooting Butte, 28-10.
During the first intermission, the Americans celebrated Toyota Billet Family Appreciation Night as the host families came out onto the ice with their players that they have hosted throughout the 2025-26 season.
Tallon Caron and AJ Prioli scored ten minutes apart to give the home team a three-goal advantage in the middle period. Four minutes after the first intermission, Caron scored off a pass from Ethan Miller and AJ Prioli, and then with 5:45 left on the clock, Prioli amassed his 22nd goal of the year with Cooper Clouse and Tallon Caron assisting. Both second-period scoring drives came with the Irish in the sin bin. Ethan Miller closed out the period with a slapshot with two seconds left that stretched Great Falls’ lead to 4-0. Tallon Caron and Gordon Jennings added the helpers. Great Falls built a 48-19 lead in the shots-on-goal category before the final stanza.
Colton Bacon, a Billings, Montana native, recorded his fourth goal three minutes into the third frame. Aidan Mulharen picked up his second assist of the season while EJ Sanchez was credited with his seventh assist. The host team scored their sixth goal as Reid Lezubski put the puck in the net close to the goal, with Carson Sears and Tallon Caron each adding one assist with 12:40 left in regulation. The scoring continued later in the stanza for the third-place team in the Frontier Division. EJ Sanchez accrued his seventh goal with assistance coming from teammates, Reid Lezubski and Tallon Caron. Jase Troyer became the seventh different scorer for Great Falls with six minutes left as he tallied his sixth goal of the season from Colton Bacon to increase the lead to 8-0. The final six minutes went scoreless.
The Great Falls offense was on a mission a night after falling to the Irish in their home arena, 4-3 in overtime. They created 28 shots in the first and third periods to finish the contest with 76. After gathering ten shots in the first twenty minutes, Butte combined for just 16 in the second and third stanzas.
The Americans offense took advantage of penalties committed by the Irish and scored three of their eight total goals while the visiting team was down a man. Five power play chances eluded the Irish in their season finale.
Kaden Rhyder played his final regular-season game for Great Falls, and he did not disappoint the home crowd. The Pennsylvania netminder swatted away all 26 shots, and he went 6-0-0-0 against Butte this season and improved to 17-6-0-1 in 25 appearances. Meanwhile, Blake Drost saw his final contest with Butte this season go for a loss. The Boise, Idaho product made 61 saves in 54 minutes of action before being replaced by backup Matthieu Chernauckas, who stopped all seven shots.
By Kevin Scott: March 7, 2026 – Great Falls, Mt
