NOTE: A Special Thanks to Michael Noel (above, https://mnoelphotography.smugmug.com) for providing the photos.
By Kevin Scott
| Box Score |
Score Sheet | League Scoreboard | Americans Team Statistics |
GREAT FALLS, Mont., November 15, 2024 — The third-ranked Great Falls Americans (11-6-1-0) and the #4 Bozeman Ice Dogs (9-6-1-1) gathered on the ice on Friday night at the Great Falls Ice Plex for their third encounter of the 2024-25 NA3HL season.
Great Falls had already played two games before Bozeman made their season debut against them during the weekend of September 13-14. The Americans traveled to Bozeman’s Haynes Pavilion on September 13th and led 4-1 after two periods to top the Ice Dogs, 5-2. Ty O’Bey acquired his third and fourth goals of the year and his second assist in leading the charge for the Americans. Seth Hanson and Tyler Klingbeil accumulated the goals for the Ice Dogs. Kaden Rhyder stopped 20 shots while Bozeman netminder Brett DeVincent made 28 saves (game story).
Both squads traveled to Great Falls the following night where the Americans scored all four of their goals before the second intermission. Ty O’Bey led both clubs with two goals with Easton Kennedy and Zac Orwig rounding out the scoring. Preston Wight denied the shutout by tallying his first score with eight minutes left. Great Falls defeated Bozeman, 4-1. Rhyder registered 32 saves in sixty minutes for his third win. Bozeman’s Jack Ryan finished with 24 saves in the loss (game story).
Since the first two head-to-head meetings, the Americans were victorious in eight of the 13 games (8-4-1-0). Bozeman has picked up nine victories, four losses and one shootout setback (9-4-0-1).
The Great Falls Americans led 5-1 through two and a half periods before the Bozeman Ice Dogs fought back with four consecutive goals to even the contest at 5-5 before regulation ended. Aiden Kennedy provided the game winning goal 1:40 into overtime to prevent the comeback by Bozeman during Friday’s primetime matchup between these two Montana foes. Rookie Fisher Hannesson scored in the first and second periods to lead Great Falls in scoring.
Great Falls and Bozeman each put the biscuit in the basket once during the opening period. While the Ice Dogs were down a man (penalty), Americans defenseman Fisher Hannesson took advantage and put the home team in front first (1-0) with his first goal with the Americans. Ty O”Bey and John Lang collected the assists with 14:12 remaining. A quick turnaround for Bozeman as they needed 17 seconds after Great Falls’ lamplighter to score one of their own. Whitefish, Montana native Sam Trufant evened the contest (1-1) with his unassisted goal. The visiting Ice Dogs attempted twice as many shots (16-8) as the host squad.
Great Falls outscored the Ice Dogs, 3-0 in the middle frame. The trio of goals came during a four-minute stretch that saw Fisher Hannesson score his second overall goal and Blayne Jusczak add his fifth of the year and newcomer Jerzy Allard, playing in his third contest, pick up his second score. Sebe Perez assisted on two of the scoring drives while Garren Narvaez, Zac Orwig and John Lang added one each. The Hannesson and Jusczak goals occurred 52 seconds apart with Bozeman in the sin bin. The Americans outshot their rivals, 15-13
Ty O’Bey scored the fifth goal for the Americans as he successfully scored on a penalty shot by going one-on-one with Bozeman netminder Isaac Weatherford midway through the final period. Later in the period, Tyler Klingbeil pulled the Ice Dogs back to a three-score deficit on a power play with his sixth goal of the season off a pass from Spencer Wilkinson. The Ice Dogs stormed back and scored three unanswered goals in the last four minutes to even the game and send it to an overtime. Spencer Wilkinson scored two goals and teammate Lex Steckelberg provided the game-tying score with eight seconds remaining. Wilkinson added another assist while Sam Trufant, Michael Reich, TJ Kelsey, Cole Schowengerdt and Preston Wight also accumulated the helpers.
In the extra period, Aiden Kennedy buried the puck in the net off a dish by Garren Narvaez with 3:20 left in the five-minute overtime to seal the win for the third-place team in the Frontier Division.
Great Falls was led by defenseman Fisher Hannesson, who scored his first two goals as a member of the Americans hockey team. Ty O’Bey had one goal and one assist while John Lang, Sebe Perez and Garren Narvaez earned two assists each. Spencer Wilkinson did all his damage in the third period as he scored two goals and assisted on two scoring plays for the visitors.
Great Falls and Bozeman combined for 82 shots-on-goal with the Ice Dogs creating 45 shots.
The Ice Dogs penalty woes helped Great Falls score. The Americans made four of their six total goals while Bozeman was down a man. Bozeman finished 1-for-4 on the power play. The NA3HL on-ice officials whistled eleven penalties that resulted in twenty minutes spent off the ice.
Kaden Rhyder won his tenth game (10-5-0-0) on Friday in front of the home crowd swatting away 40 of the 45 shots sent his way. Isaac Weatherford, in his second season with Bozeman, has won one game, lost one in regulation and overtime, and suffered a loss in a shootout (1-1-1-1). The Missouri native ended the night with 31 saves.
FRONTIER DIVISION UPDATE: Jeffrey Hershberger scored two goals and one assist to lead the top-ranked Helena Bighorns (16-1-0-0) to a 6-3 win over the #6 Butte Irish (9-9-0-0) during Friday’s action at the Butte Community Ice Center. Easton Langemo, Andrew Browe, and Ajay Schiller put in the goals for Butte. Malik Johnson (10-0-0-0) performed well in the net for the Bighorns by accruing 28 saves as he remains undefeated. Manny Pantow (3-4-0-0) made 47 saves in the loss for the Irish (Box Score).
The #2 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (12-5-2-0) cruised to another victory as they blanked the #8 Yellowstone (WY) Quake (0-19-0-0), 8-0 in Sheridan, Wyoming on Friday evening. Sheridan’s Josh Serino (three goals, one assist, hat trick) and Zach Longnecker (two goals, one assist) paced the winning side and kept the Quake off the scoreboard. The Hawks outshot the Quake, 59-14. John Simon had an easy night by preventing all 14 shots by Yellowstone from getting by him. Simon improved to 6-3-0-0 on the season. Meanwhile, Matthew Neeser (0-11-0-0) got the start picking up 12 saves before Hayden Laforet took over and finished with 39 saves. (Box Score).
The #7 Badlands (SD) Sabres (7-9-2-1) hosted the #5 Gillette (WY) Wild (9-9-1-0) in Rapid City, South Dakota on Friday. After a scoreless first period, Badlands did all their scoring in the middle stanza as Easton Newman, Ryan Jordan, and Grady Nygaard lit up the lamp for the Sabres. A goal by Gillette’s Dylan Peterson in the third prevented the perfect game by Badlands netminder Lochlin Jackson. Jackson won his third contest for the Sabres (3-2-1-1) by posting 25 saves. Gillette’s Austin Trieber (47 saves) dropped to 1-4-0-0 in his first year with the Wild (Box Score).
NOTES: Easton Kennedy, a forward from Minnesota, has signed a tender with the North American Hockey League’s (NAHL) Fairbanks (AK) Ice Dogs. He has nine goals and dished out 12 assists (21 points) in 15 games this season. He recently returned home to play for his high school, Detroit Lakes, and plans to return to the Americans in February 2025.
UPCOMING EVENTS: Thursday, November 21: Great Falls Optimist Tree Sale: The Great Falls Americans will help the Great Falls Optimist Club for their annual Christmas Tree sale at Montana ExpoPark. The players will help unload and set up 600 trees beginning at 9:00AM.
Friday and Saturday, November 22-23: Military Appreciation Weekend: The Great Falls Americans will celebrate “Military Appreciation Weekend” during Friday, November 22nd (against the Bozeman Ice Dogs) and November 23rd versus the Butte Irish. On November 22nd, the Great Falls Figure Skating Club will have an exhibition from 5:15PM-6:15PM. Come out early before the game to cheer on the local figure skaters as they perform their routines for the first time. On November 23rd, there will be a presentation of donation to the “Think Pink For the Girls.”
Sunday, December 1: The Great Falls Americans will have their Christmas Party hosted by the Americans Booster Club.
Season Two of the “Americans Podcast with Jim Quick” premiered on September 5, 2024, with his first guest of the season, Cole Molaski, a forward from Suamico, Wisconsin, who is in his first season with Great Falls. Other players featured this season include Ty O’Bey, Easton and Aiden Kennedy, Sebe Perez, Mercer Twomey, Zac Orwig and Cal Laggis. Click here to learn more about Cal Laggis on the official podcast of the Great Falls Americans. Each podcast will feature one American player as we get to know the team this season. Jim completed 13 episodes during his first season. Fans can listen to the full podcasts from Seasons One and Two by clicking here.
560AM KMON Weekly Radio Interview with Coach Greg Sears: Join KMON Radio Sports Director “Baker Bob” McNamee every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings during the 2024-25 season with Great Falls Americans Head Coach and General Manager, Greg Sears as he talks about the Americans. The Weekly Radio interview on 560AM KMON in Great Falls can be heard locally every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings during the Hourly Sports Report (6:15AM (MST), 7:15AM (MST), and 8:15AM (MST) live. Click here to listen to the current and previous radio interviews.
AMERICANS PHOTOGRAPHER: Look for game photos from all of the home games from Michael Noel, the Americans Official Photographer by clicking here.
AMERICANS E-NEWSLETTERS: The Americans have two email newsletters for fans to receive in their inbox this season. Kevin Scott, the Americans Media Coordinator, has an Americans E-Newsletter that you can get on Sunday’s during the regular season filled with game summaries, press releases, links, schedule, etc. Click here to subscribe (if you haven’t already).
Americans Owner Matt Leaf creates and sends out a weekly email called “Baldy’s Puck Drop” that features team news, player profile, sponsor information and lots of other tidbits relating to Americans hockey that is published on Thursday mornings. Click here to receive the weekly newsletter (if you haven’t already).
NA3HL MOBILE APP: If you haven’t already, download the NA3HL App available at the App Store and Google Play. Fans can set your favorite team to the Great Falls Americans today and stay up to date with the NA3HL. Click here to download from the App Store (Apple) or click here to download from the Google Play Store (Android).
2024-25 PHOTOS: Check out all the Americans photos throughout the season including some taken by Americans photographer, Michael Noel and Gentle Thug Media’s Tim Ljunggren. Click here to view all the photos from the 2024-25 season.
AMERICANS TEAM STORE: Click here to view the Americans online team store that features a variety of different souvenirs to purchase. A store is available at all home games. AMERICANS GAME TICKETS ONLINE: Fans can also buy game day tickets on the website prior to the game by clicking here.
Please check out the Americans website at www.greatfallsamericans.com for all your updated news, game summaries, rosters, photo galleries, etc.
AMERICANS TEAM STORE: Click here to view the Americans online team store that features a variety of different souvenirs to purchase. A store is available at all home games. AMERICANS GAME TICKETS ONLINE: Fans can also buy game day tickets on the website prior to the game by clicking here.
Please check out the Americans website at www.greatfallsamericans.com for all your updated news, game summaries, rosters, photo galleries, etc.
NEXT CONTEST: The Americans will travel to Helena, Montana to face the #1 Helena Bighorns on Saturday, November 16th at 7:05PM (MST). Steed Arena will host these two opponents live from the NA3HL’s official streaming service, NAHLTV. The Americans are 1-3 versus Helena including a 3-2 win in Great Falls on September 21st.
P. Gibson’s Sports Grill and Casino (1600 Fox Farm Road) is the place to be after Friday and Saturday night home games where the Americans invite their fans and supporters to their post-game dinner.
Buffalo Wild Wings, located at 17 Northwest Bypass in Great Falls, hosts the “Americans Watch Party” this season when the Americans are on the road. Fans are invited to get food and drinks and watch the game.
NAHLTV is the NA3HL’s new streaming platform and is the place to catch all the action for fans that are unable to attend the home and away games this season. Click here to learn more about how to view any of the Americans home and away contests.
Click here for the 2024-25 Great Falls Americans schedule and results.