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., January 17, 2025 — The #3 Great Falls Americans (21-11-2-0) hosted the #7 Gillette (WY) Wild (14-19-1-0) on Friday night in Great Falls for the first of the two weekend games in the series. On Saturday, both squads face each other in the series finale.
The Americans and Wild met in Gillette, Wyoming during their first encounter this season on November 8-9, 2024, where Gillette took care of business on their home ice, winning 6-3 and then surviving 4-3 in overtime on the second night. In the 6-3 win on Friday, Gillette forward Max Arlt, who leads his team in goals scored (18), assists made (34) and points (52), scored two goals and had one assist. Goaltender Tate Cothern made 28 saves in the victory. Meanwhile, Great Falls was led by Aiden Kennedy (1 goal, 1 assist) and goaltender Kaden Rhyder acquired 19 saves (game story).
In Saturday’s performance, Gillette led 3-2 before the second intermission and Great Falls scored the lone goal by Aiden Kennedy in the third frame to send it to overtime. Gillette’s Tai Kontrec needed 79 seconds in the five-minute extra period to break the tie and give the Wild the home victory. The Slovenia native scored twice and added one assist. Tate Cothern swatted away 40 shots. The three scoring drives for Great Falls came from Ty O’Bey, Aiden Kennedy, and Jurzy Allard. Patrick Forsythe played in his second game and received his first loss of the season as the Americans goaltender. He finished with 26 saves in 65 minutes (game story).
Americans forward Ty O’Bey is ninth in the NA3HL with 48 points scored and has a team-leading 25 goals while teammate Garren Narvaez tops his teammates with 30 assists.
The #7 Gillette (WY) Wild outscored the #3 Great Falls Americans 3-1 in the third period to claim a 5-3 decision over their Montana rivals on Friday night at the Great Falls Ice Plex. Tai Kontrec and Max Arlt combined for two goals and four assists for the Wild. Ty O’Bey and two former Gillette Wild players, Chase Hapka, and Jayden Rogen each put the biscuit in the basket for Great Falls.
Great Falls’ Chase Hapka broke the scoreless tie with his 15th goal of the season 12:54 into the first period. Cooper Clouse and Aiden Kennedy were each credited with one assist apiece.
In the second frame, Christopher Lang made his fifth lamplighter to even the score (1-1) two minutes into the period. Tai Kontrec tallied the first of his two assists while teammate Isaac Peterson added his first of the contest. Riley Schmidt and Ryan Kirkman assisted on Max Arlt’s 18th goal nearly three minutes later. Gillette’s 2-1 advantage lasted 25 seconds until Americans forward Jayden Rogen, playing in his first game after coming over this week from the Wild, recorded his first scoring drive of the season off a pass from Sebe Perez and Cal Laggis to even the score before the second intermission. Great Falls attempted nine more shots (32-23) than their opponents after the first forty minutes.
The Americans came back from the break to regain the lead. Ty O’Bey registered his team-high 25th goal 31 seconds into the third for the 3-2 lead. Cal Laggis capitalized on his second assist of the night and John Lang earned his first. Fourteen minutes later, the Wild’s offense struck three times in 5:27 to earn their 14th win in 34 games. Tai Kontrec, Isaac Peterson, and Brady Johnson all added scoring drives to their resume for head coach Erick Bromberg’s squad. Max Arlt gathered two assists during that time frame while Brady Johnson, Beau Delich, Dylan Peterson and Tai Kontrec assisted on one scoring opportunity.
Despite falling 5-3, Great Falls contributed 46 shots while limiting Gillette to 41. Both teams took 15 shots each in the middle period.
Wyoming went 2-for-5 on power play chances with Tai Kontrec and Isaac Peterson’s third period goals occurred while the Americans were in the sin bin. Jayden Rogen’s second period score helped Great Falls go 1-for-4 while the Wild were in the penalty box. Both Frontier Division opponents combined for 11 total penalties to conclude their third meeting of the season.
In ten appearances this season, Gilette netminder Austin Trieber improved to 4-6-0-0 by producing 43 saves and allowing three goals. Kaden Rhyder (17-7-1-0) had a busy night in the net for the home team. The Pennsylvania goaltender made 36 saves.
FRONTIER DIVISION UPDATE: Six different players scored for the #1 Helena Bighorns (27-3-1-1) shutout victory over the #8 Yellowstone (WY) Quake (1-34-1-0) during Friday’s NA3HL action at Steed Arena in Helena, Montana. Branson Appelman (5-1-0-0) picked up his fifth win in six appearances in the net for the Bighorns. Chase Ebeyer (6-7-0-0), a goaltender from Scottsdale, Arizona, is now 0-4-0-0 with the Quake after starting the season with the Binghamton Buzz where he won six of nine contests. Ebeyer ended the game with 64 saves in the loss (Box Score).
The #4 Badlands (SD) Sabres (18-13-3-2) scored two goals in the opening period and three in the third frame as they prevailed over the #6 Butte Irish (15-17-1-1), 6-3 in Rapid City, South Dakota on Friday. Zach Vockler amassed two goals and one assist while teammate Charlie Lorbiecki scored once and dished out two assists to help the Sabres win their 18th game of the year. Keegan Adams scored for the Irish in the first period followed by one goal apiece from Zachary Pilkinton and Andrew Browe in the middle period. Jackson Roethler is now 2-0-0-0 against Butte this season as he ran his record to 4-5-0-0 after swatting away 32 of the 35 shots he faced. Nicolas Ulyanov (0-4-0-0) had 47 saves in his debut for the visiting Irish after spending time with the Yellowstone Quake this season (Box Score).
The #5 Bozeman Ice Dogs (17-13-1-1) trailed on the road to the #2 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (22-10-2-0), 2-1 before the third period. Lex Steckelberg (two goals) and Andrew Kaunas (1 goal) finished the third period by outscoring the second-ranked Hawks, 3-0 for the 4-2 victory in Sheridan, Wyoming. Steckelberg ended the game with two goals and one assist while Kaunas created one goal and two assists to lead the Bozeman Ice Dogs to another victory. Daniel Shelden and Cody Hogan chipped in the goals in the second stanza for the Hawks. The winning goalie was Bozeman’s Brett DeVincent (10-7-0-0), who made 50 saves while Jaxson Stiller (0-1-0-0), playing in only his second game with the Hawks, stopped 32 shots in the setback (Box Score).
NOTES: Fargo, North Dakota native Jayden Rogen has joined the Great Falls Americans team this week after playing with the Gillette (WY) Wild this season. He joins forward Chase Hapka as former players who played for the Wild this season on the Americans roster.
The Americans have two players who are reaching milestones this weekend. Zac Orwig played in his 150th career NA3HL game on Friday and Garrett Driscoll was in the lineup on Friday participating in his 100th junior hockey game. Congrats to Zac and Garrett!!
The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) announced their schedule and format for the 2025 NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament that will take place on February 17-18, 2025, at the USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan. Click here to read the story.
Read about all the Americans hockey action in print through the Great Falls Gazette, a newspaper that is published on Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday each week with game recaps written by Kevin Scott, the Great Falls Americans Public Relations/Media Coordinator. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.
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, Cal Laggis and Blayne Jusczak. Click here to learn more about Blayne Jusczak 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: Great Falls and Gillette will play for the final time during the 2024-25 NA3HL regular season on Saturday, January 18th in Great Falls. Game time is set at the Great Falls Ice Plex for 7:05PM (MST) and can be streamed online at NAHLTV. Great Falls is 0-2-1-0 against the Wild this season.
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.