By Kevin Scott
GREAT FALLS, Mont., November 16, 2013 — The Great Falls Americans seem to play their best hockey after sixty minutes of action. The Americans and the visiting Yellowstone Quake played their second straight overtime contest in as many nights with the Americans coming out with both victories.
A night after Aaron McInnis scored the game winning goal against the Quake, Connor Barta provided the game winner in the second overtime as the Americans outlasted Yellowstone 5-4. The Great Falls native scored with only 12 seconds remaining in the second of the two game series against the Wyoming team.
During the opening period, each team traded scoring opportunities with Jimmy Tich and Josh Neumann adding power play goals for Yellowstone while Great Falls received scores from Erik Gatson and Austin Krantz. Lucas Lomax provided the assists on both of the scores for Great Falls.
Defense played a key role in the following period until the Americans grabbed their first lead of the contest (3-2) with Zach Mese’s goal in the 37th minute of action. Dylan Garton and goaltender Erik Powell each assisted on the play. Yellowstone rallied to tie the game before the second intermission with a goal by Dong Seo.
After Sawyer Scanlan broke the tie in the third period for Yellowstone, Cody Page found the back of the net to send the game into overtime for the Americans of coach Jeff Heimel.
Both teams combined for 41 shots on goal in the first overtime but neither team scored in the first five minute overtime. The game looked like it may end in a shoot-out but with 12 seconds left in the second overtime, Connor Barta got the puck past Yellowstone goaltender Rocco Yapello for the win.
Erik Powell stopped 35 of the 39 shot attempts he faced against a tough Quake offense. Yellowstone’s Rocco Yapello finished the night with 59 saves.
The Americans bring a 14-3 record into their showdown with the Glacier Nationals next Friday night while Yellowstone (4-10-3) faces the Bozeman Ice Dogs (3-12-1) on the road Thursday night.
NEXT CONTEST: Great Falls will play Glacier on Friday, November 22nd at home before heading to Cody, Wyoming in a two game series against the Quake on Saturday and Sunday, November 23-24th.
| Period 1 | Period 2 | Period 3 | 1st OT | 2nd OT | Final | |
| Great Falls | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Yellowstone | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
First Period – 1, Yellowstone, Jimmy Tich (power play) (assisted by Josh Neumann, Trent Carter), 7:54. 2, Great Falls, Erik Gatson (Steven Goran, Lucas Lomax), 14:44. 3, Yellowstone, Josh Neumann (power play) (Jimmy Tich, Trent Carter), 17:03. 4, Great Falls, Austin Krantz (power play) (Cody Page, Lucas Lomax), 18:24.
Second Period – 5, Great Falls, Zachary Mese (power play) (Dylan Garton, Erik Powell), 17:40. 6, Yellowstone, Dong Seo (power play) (Josh Neumann, Trent Carter), 18:55.
Third Period – 7, Yellowstone, Sawyer Scanlan (Dong Seo, Jimmy Tich), 3:58. 8, Great Falls, Cody Page (Max Kaercher, Zachary Mese), 14:00.
First Overtime – NO SCORING
Second Overtime – 9, Great Falls, Connor Barta (Brady Christiaens, Donovan Mattfeldt), 4:48.
Shots on Goal – Great Falls 64, Yellowstone 39.
Power-play Opportunities – Great Falls 2-for-4, Yellowstone 3-for-5.
Attendance – 543
Box Score: Yellowstone @ Great Falls
| Final – 2OT | Great Falls Iceplex Sat, Nov 16, 2013 7:30 PM MST |
 Yellowstone 4 |
 Great Falls 5 |
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