By Kevin Scott
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BOZEMAN, Mont., November 28, 2015 — The Bozeman Ice Dogs scored three unanswered power play goals in the final period to lift the home team to a 4-3 win over the visiting Great Falls Americans on Saturday night at Haynes Pavilion in Bozeman, Montana. Great Falls had the lead for most of the game until the last period.
The Bozeman Ice Dogs are one of four teams (along with the Yellowstone Quake, Helena Bighorns and Gillette Wild) to give the Americans a loss this season. It was a week ago when Bozeman edged Great Falls 2-1 at Bozeman’s Haynes Pavilion. Great Falls did win their first matchup of the season at the end of October in thrilling fashion with a 4-3 win in a shootout. Stevan Goran made the only goal for either team in the shootout.
Arseny Ivanov, a key returner from last year’s Great Falls Americans squad, secured the only goal for either team during the first twenty minutes of action. Great Falls native Blake Miller and Canadian Stevan Goran assisted on the scoring play that took place midway through the period. Great Falls goaltender Lauren Massie stopped all six shots that the Bozeman offense sent his way.
Bozeman’s Steven Nisbet and AJ O’Dell took advantage of the power play opportunity that the Americans provided and found Casey Gobel open for the score during the first five minutes of the second stanza. After the Ice Dogs scored, Tanner Congdon and Austin Krantz registered goals before the end of the period. Defenseman Miles Giorgione assisted on Congdon’s score with 6:56 remaining. With assistance from teammates Brendan Jester and Reed Link, Austin Krantz put the Americans up 3-1 with seven seconds to go before the second intermission on the power play score.
Bozeman out-scored Great Falls 3-0 after the second intermission and kept the Americans from finding the back of the net. The Ice Dogs made all three goals during power play opportunities. Nicholas Thompson, Gunnar Mogck and Dylan Michaud provided the points while Kegan Couture, Steven Nisbet and Thompson set up the scores.
The Americans couldn’t stay out of the penalty box as they finished with seven minors and one major accounting for 29 minutes of penalty time. The Bozeman NA3HL franchise had four infractions resulting in eight minutes.
Bozeman gathered points on half of their power play chances. All four goals including three in the third period came from power plays. The Americans last goal made by Austin Krantz in the second period was the only successful score via power play for them.
Goaltender Stephen Frank rejected 32 shots and allowed three goals. Lauren Massie finished with 29 saves for Great Falls.
NEXT CONTEST: Great Falls finishes out their home portion before the New Year with games against Helena and Glacier in December. On Friday, December 4th, the Helena Bighorns are in town. The Havre-based Glacier Nationals will make their final regular season appearance in Great Falls with their showdown with the Americans on Friday, December 11th. Both games have 7:30PM start times.
Additional Media Coverage: November 29, 2015: ABC/FOX Montana (KFBB): Great Falls Americans NA3HL hockey team Falls to Bozeman Ice Dogs