HELENA OVERCOMES SLOW START TO DEFEAT GREAT FALLS, 4-1

GREAT FALLS, Mont., November 4, 2023 — The #4 Great Falls Americans (8-7-0-0) have already faced six of their seven Frontier Division opponents this season with eight wins in 14 total contests. The only squad they have not had the opportunity to play against was the #2 Helena Bighorns (13-2-0-0), who after finishing last season with a 42-10-1-2 overall record including a semifinal appearance at the 2023 NA3HL Fraser Cup Championship in March, have nine returning players this season from the 2022-23 team. Helena started out the 2023-24 season with twelve straight wins until their road clash with the #1 Gillette Wild (13-1-0-1) in Gillette, Wyoming where they lost both games. Ty Moore leads coach Damon Hanson’s squad with 14 goals while Tim Mattingly has a team-high 18 assists. Great Falls, under coach Greg Sears, is led by Ty O’Bey and Dmitri Kuleshov (10 goals each) and Aaron James with 13 assists. The Americans have five returners from last year who see action this season. Great Falls was looking to pull off an upset on Saturday night at the Great Falls Ice Plex. The Great Falls Americans led 1-0 after the first period but were outscored 4-0 by the #2 Helena Bighorns over the final two periods for the 4-1 setback on Saturday night in Great Falls. This was the first meeting of the 2023-24 season between these two clubs. Great Falls and Helena needed 15 minutes of game time before one of them lit up the lamp. Great Falls took the early lead with 4:57 left in the first period. Aaron James scored his fourth goal of the season with assists going to Luke Pizzey and Ty O’Bey on the power play tally. Moments before, a controversial call negated a goal for the home team. Great Falls’ defense held up for the final five minutes for the lead after the first twenty minutes. Both teams combined for five minor infractions. The Americans attempted 11 of the 30 total shots in the first stanza. The Bighorns deficit lasted 52 seconds into the second frame when Dylan Cunningham added his seventh goal of the year with helpers from Gavin Barr and Braden Cunningham while Great Falls was in the penalty box. Helena’s offense broke the tie 97 seconds later with a tally by Trey Pareja. Joe Feamster and Tim Mattingly, the team’s top assist leader with 18, racked up the assists. The visitors would put the puck in the net once more before the period expired. Owen Ramsay and Mason Eggen set up Ty Moore’s goal. Helena outshot Great Falls 15-6 after the first intermission. The Bighorns struck for the fourth time when Mason Eggen’s slapshot from long distance escaped Great Falls netminder Kaden Ryhder. Mason, from Brooks, Alberta, Canada, scored his first tally with assistance from Ty Moore and Trey Pareja with thirteen minutes remaining. The Bighorns defense allowed 23 total shots for Great Falls while Helena finished with 35. Just 14 minor penalties were called between these two Montana squads with 28 minutes spent in the penalty box. Malik Johnson from the Bighorns ran his record to 4-0-0-0 by accumulating 22 saves in sixty minutes. Kaden Ryhder (5-2-0-0) lost for just the second time this season in eight contests. The first year Pennsylvania netminder was perfect in the net in the first period before giving up four goals in the last two periods. He finished with 31 saves. NOTES: The Great Falls Ice Plex had a pipe break due to a puck hitting one of the ceiling sprinkler heads during warmups about 15 minutes before the puck drop was originally scheduled (7:00PM). Fans were evacuated for a brief time before being allowed back into the Ice Plex. The game was delayed and started around 7:40PM (MST). In this week’s “Baldy’s Puck Drop” Newsletter, Americans team owner Matt Leaf has a player profile of forward Caleb Gamboa, Halloween Fun with the Americans, sponsor information, “Think Pink for the Girls” breast cancer fundraiser raised over $1,100 from last Sunday’s (Oct. 29th) game against the Bozeman Ice Dogs. This week, another episode of the “Americans Podcast with Jim Quick” was completed with his guest being goaltender Ryan Stowe. Quick has done five previous podcasts this year featuring the history of the Americans, interviews with former American and now Associate Coach, Alex Leaf and current players, Phil Harrell, Sam Duehlmeier and Aaron Leaf. Congratulations to Ty O’Bey and Kaden Ryhder who each received Honorable Mention honors in the weekly NA3HL Stars of the Week for their play last Sunday (October 29th) against the Bozeman Ice Dogs. The NA3HL also recognized three Great Falls Americans players for their play during the month of October 2023. Forward Dmitri Kuleshov, defenseman Phil Harrell and goaltender Kaden Ryhder received Honorable Mention in their respective positions. FRONTIER DIVISION UPDATE: The top-ranked Gillette (WY) Wild (14-1-0-1)had no problem getting past the #7 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (4-10-1-1) in a cross-state NA3HL battle taking place in Sheridan, Wyoming on Saturday. Jace Johnson, Jayden Rogers, Matt Siems, Tay, Kurpius, Isaac Young, Zach Lebens, and Roddick Simons each recorded one goal in Gillette’s 7-1 victory over Sheridan. Daniil Viscu scored one first period goal for the Hawks in the loss. Gillette took twice as many shots (64-32) than Sheridan and capitalized on four power play opportunities. Dominic Hite, the second-year goalie for the Wild, won his fourth outing in four contests (4-0-0-0) by ending his night with 31 saves. Aidan Knox (0-2-0-0) had 57 saves in sixty minutes in the loss for Sheridan. After a scoreless first period, the #3 Bozeman Ice Dogs (9-6-0-1) and the #6 Butte Irish (7-7-0-0) each scored one goal each in the second and third periods to force an overtime. The extra period came and went without any scoring. The Irish won their seventh game of the year as Brennen Morgan was the only skater to score on the opposing goaltender in the shootout. The 3-2 win occurred in front of the home fans at the Butte Community Ice Center on Saturday. In addition to Morgan’s shootout goal, Noah Williamson and Patrick Crooks also lit up the lamp for Butte. Bozeman’s Chris Porciuncula scored in the second and recorded one assist in third period. Keegan Strong improved to 2-3-0-0 on the season by stopping 37 of 39 shots for Butte. Matthew Ryynanen (6-4-0-1) suffered his first shootout loss for the Ice Dogs by producing 35 saves. Jack Walters scored once in the second and third periods and Benjamin Larson put in one score and dished out two assists in helping the #5 Badlands (SD) Sabres (6-5-1-2) prevail in a 5-1 victory over the winless #8 Yellowstone (WY) Quake (0-15-1-0) in South Dakota on Saturday evening. Badlands netminder Easton Eriksmoen added his fifth victory of the season (5-2-0-0) by swatting away 26 shots. John Simon continued to struggle for Yellowstone (0-5-0-0) but not before acquiring 38 saves. NEXT CONTEST: The Great Falls Americans and Helena Bighorns will not have to wait too long for a rematch. On Friday, November 10th and Saturday, November 11th, Great Falls will make the short 90-mile road trip to Helena, Montana to face the Bighorns inside Steed Arena (formerly Helena Ice Arena). The puck drops for both games at 7:05PM (MST).

HELENA OVERCOMES SLOW START TO DEFEAT GREAT FALLS, 4-1

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