The Great Falls Americans (2-4-0-1) started off the 2025-26 NA3HL junior hockey season in September with three games against the Helena Bighorns (4-2-1-0).
On opening night on September 5th at the Great Falls Ice Plex, Helena cruised by Great Falls, 8-3 behind a solid effort from Clint Isakson, who finished with two goals and goaltender John Sanos earned the victory with 31 saves. Cooper Clouse, Tallon Caron and EJ Sanchez all scored before the second intermission for the Americans.
Two weeks later in Helena, Montana, the Bighorns took a 3-2 victory in a shootout to give the fans at Steed Arena a little scare. Helena led 2-1 entering the third period before Great Falls’ Tallon Caron picked up his third goal of the season with 9:42 left in regulation. That goal proved to be game-tying goal that would send it to overtime where neither team was able to score during the five-minute session. Helena’s Chase Berg scored the game winning goal in the shootout. Jase Troyer, Cooper Clouse and Wyatt Hanna each had unsuccessful tries against Helena netminder Andrew Blake, who finished with 29 saves. Kaden Rhyder ended the night with 48 saves for the Americans.
The rivalry continued with Game 3 on Saturday in Great Falls.
Gavin Denis provided two goals, but it was Logan Mese’s game-winning tally in overtime that sealed a 4-3 win against the Helena Bighorns as a great crowd turned out at the Great Falls Ice Plex in Great Falls, Montana to witness these two rivals in action on Saturday night.
Eight minutes came off the clock before the Helena Bighorns scored the first goal of the game. Jeffrey Hershberger, a returning forward from Black Diamond, Washington, scored on the unassisted play. Just when it looked like the Americans would be down at the end of the first period, Gavin Denis scored off a pass from Cooper Clouse for the equalizer with 16 seconds remaining, with Helena down a man (penalty). Gordon Jennings, playing in his third contest with Great Falls, received the secondary assist. Helena and Great Falls combined for 22 shots-on-goal along with five unanswered power plays.
Austin Uecker needed 96 seconds to score the Bighorns second goal in the middle stanza. Uecker’s third goal occurred with Great Falls in the sin bin and was assisted by Blake Chapman and Caden Feinstein. Jaxen Savage, one of four Americans from Canada, tacked on his second career goal for Great Falls with 1:50 remaining to even the score (2-2) before the second intermission. Alaska products, Jacob Weber and Bryce Webb, earned the assists on the game-tying scoring opportunity.
The home team took their first lead of the game (3-2) eight minutes into the final period of regulation as Gavin Denis accumulated his second goal of the contest. Later in the period, Helena tied the score at 3-3 as Clint Isakson and Caden Feinstein found Lincoln Kearney open for the lamplighter with six minutes left. A potential game-winning goal by Helena was wiped out by the NA3HL on-ice officials with 40 seconds left. A five-minute overtime was needed to decide the outcome between these two rivals.
Logan Mese provided the game-winning goal off the stick of EJ Sanchez 2:42 into the five-minute extra period for the Great Falls.
The Bighorns took more shots than Great Falls in each of the three regulation periods to finish with 52. Great Falls created 13 of their 34 total shots in the third period.
Gavin Denis led both teams with two goals scored and Logan Mese made the only score in overtime for coach Greg Sears’ squad. Jeffrey Hershberger, Austin Uecker, and Lincoln Kearney registered the scoring drives for Helena. Caden Feinstein dished out two assists for head coach Damon Hanson’s team.
Great Falls and Helena capitalized on one of their power play chances with the Americans going 1-for-4 and Helena going 1-for-9 during the 62 minute affair.
Cole Murphy (Great Falls) outshined Andrew Blake (Helena) in the net on Saturday. Murphy, who also was credited with a 4-3 shootout win over the Badlands (SD) Sabres on September 13th in Great Falls, stopped 49 shots and is now 2-1-0-0 after three performances. Minnesota netminder Andrew Blake swatted away 30 shots as he saw his record drop to 2-1-1-0 on the season.
