NOTE: Photo Courtesy of the Great Falls Americans
By Kevin Scott
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BUTTE, Mont., March 7, 2025 — The #3 Great Falls Americans (26-14-4-2) and the #6 Butte Irish (19-23-1-3) are both coming off a bye week as both teams close out the final regular season contests for the 2024-25 NA3HL season with a pair of contests on March 7-8, 2025.
Butte played host on Friday night and Great Falls will end their season at home on Saturday evening.
In six prior contests, Great Falls is 5-1 against Butte this year including three victories at the Great Falls Ice Plex. Their most recent encounter occurred on January 24th when the Americans toppled the Irish, 6-3 at the Butte Community Ice Center. Americans forward John Lang scored in the first and third periods while also assisting on a score to pace the Americans to another win. Ty O’Bey scored once and added two helpers. Bobby Anselmo, Toby Kerr, and Zachary Nimetz accounted for the trio of goals for Butte. Kaden Rhyder acquired 38 saves in the net for the visiting team. Nicolas Ulyanov was busy against the American’s offense picking up 53 saves in the loss (game story).
Ty O’Bey, Zac Orwig, and Garren Narvaez continue to pace the Americans. O’Bey has recorded 31 goals and 67 points while Narvaez, Orwig and O’Bey each currently have 36 assists for coach Greg Sears’ squad.
Meanwhile, Easton Langemo lead head coach Marc Brodeur’s squad in goals scored with 34 while Loghan Weber has 80 points including 54 assists to lead the team in both categories for the Irish.
Great Falls is assured of a playoff spot in next week’s Frontier Division Semi-Finals where the top four teams will make the postseason. The Irish will finish their season on Saturday with 19 wins but will not be going to the playoffs.
Great Falls Americans forwards Ty O’Bey, John Lang and Aiden Kennedy combined for four goals and five assists as the #3 Great Falls Americans are in the playoffs by posting a 6-3 victory against the #6 Butte Irish during Friday’s second-to-last NA3HL Frontier Division contest of the season. The Butte Community Ice Center saw the Irish play for the last time this season at home.
Aiden Kennedy, Jurzy Allard and Chase Hapka started the first period for Great Falls with three goals while the Butte Irish received scores from Toby Kerr and Jeremiah Campbell. John Lang assisted on two scoring drives while Ty O’Bey, Americans assist leader, Garren Narvaez, Zac Orwig and Aiden Kennedy each set up one scoring play for Great Falls. Weston Villers and Zachary Pilkinton helped Toby Kerr get his 13th goal of the season six minutes into the period. Kazden Stineff and Loghan Weber made Jeremiah Campbell’s goal possible with 1:33 remaining in the opening frame.
After the first intermission, Matt Beazley earned two assists on both goals for Great Falls. Ty O’Bey also assisted on John Lang’s tally 26 seconds into the second while Fisher Hannesson tacked on an assist on Ty O’Bey’s score with 5:39 remaining. Before the period concluded, Butte pulled to within two goals (5-3) as Zachary Nimetz made his third goal of the year with helpers from Riley Erickson and Nathaniel Vocke.
Aiden Kennedy ensured the Americans road win by scoring the lone goal in the final period off the pass from Cooper Clouse and Zac Orwig.
The visiting team’s offense outshot the home team, 71-30 with 53 occurring after the first period.
Each team scored one of their goals with the opposing squad in the sin bin. Great Falls (1-for-7 on the power play) was whistled for six infractions resulting in 20 minutes of penalty time. After going 1-for-5 on the power play, the Irish committed twice as many penalties (12) as the Americans that resulted in 77 minutes spent off the ice.
Kaden Rhyder rejected 27 shots on 30 attempts by Butte’s offense. The Pennsylvania netminder is now 22-10-2-0 with a 5-1 record against the Irish. Tim Nanson started for the home team, but Logan Hunter finished after taking over in the second period. Nanson took the loss (8-10-1-0) but not before picking up 31 saves. Logan Hunter allowed one goal and stopped 34 shots in the final 25 minutes.
Great Falls will say goodbye to nine members of the 2024-25 team as they age out and will play in their final regular season contest with the Americans on Saturday (Chase Hapka, Jayden Rogen, Zac Orwig, Matt Beazley, Sebe Perez, Masen Kerr, Garrett Driscoll, John Lang, and Cal Laggis). Masen Kerr (Illinois State University), Garrett Driscoll (Western Michigan University) and John Lang (University of Mary) have signed on (so far) to play at the college level next season. We thank them for their contributions to Americans hockey.
NEXT CONTEST: The Americans will conclude the regular season by hosting the Butte Irish on Saturday, March 8th with the puck dropping at 7:05PM (MST) at the Great Falls Ice Plex. The game will serve as the Billet Family Appreciation Night where the host families will gather between one of the periods to be recognized with their host player(s). NAHLTV will have the regular season finale live on their official streaming service.
FRONTIER DIVISION UPDATE: Preston Wight’s goal put the #4 Bozeman Ice Dogs (26-17-2-1) in front of the top-ranked Helena Bighorns (40-4-1-1) at the end of the first period but the Bighorns home crowd helped them outscore their Montana opponents, 4-3 over the final two periods to force an extra period. The Ice Dogs and Bighorns were eight seconds away from sending the contest to a shootout when Helena’s Marcus Fritel scored to give Helena their 40th win in 46 contests as a large crowd at Steed Arena in Helena, Montana looked on. Ty Schell led the home team with two goals to help his squad to a 5-4 overtime win. In addition to Wight’s first period goal, Reid Wilkinson, Devin Bruns and Andrew Kaunas each answered with goals of their own in the setback for Bozeman. Tyler Miller ran his record to 14-2-1-0 by producing 23 saves. Bozeman’s Brett DeVincent (15-10-1-0) lost his first overtime decision of the season by stopping 32 of the 37 shots sent by Helena’s offense. Helena has already clinched the top seed for next week’s Frontier Division Semi-Finals. Bozeman is on the outside looking in as they fight for one of the final two playoff spots (Box Score).
The #2 Sheridan (WY) Hawks (28-14-3-1) have already made the playoffs but only scored one goal in the first period by Zach Longnecker and held the #5 Badlands (SD) Sabres (24-15-4-3) to a second period score by Sabres standout, Zach Vockler to send the contest to an overtime after neither squad put the biscuit in the basket in the third frame. Zach Vockler added his 34th score off a pass from Ryan Jordan three minutes into the extra period for a 2-1 home win in Rapid City, South Dakota on Friday evening. Jackson Roethler made 22 saves and allowed one first period goal for his fifth victory in 13 appearances (5-5-1-0) for the Sabres. TJ Wonnacott (11-3-3-1) created 49 saves in his third overtime loss of the year (Box Score).
The #8 Yellowstone (WY) Quake (1-44-1-0) have struggled throughout the season on the scoreboard but in Friday’s 4-2 loss to their instate rivals (#7 Gillette Wild, 19-26-1-0), they did lead 2-1 after two periods of play. Cayden May and Logan Nichols scored in the first and second periods, respectively for the Quake. Gillette’s Hudson Fisher scored the first of his three goals (hat trick) in the opening period for the Wild. The Wild scored three straight goals in 2:46 span in the third stanza to secure a win on the road in Cody, Wyoming on Friday. Austin Trieber is now 6-10-0-0 as he swatted away 25 shots for the winning side. Matthew Neeser and Tucker Bayly both saw action in the net for the Quake. Neeser and Bayly combined for 52 saves but it was Bayly who suffered his fifth loss (0-5-0-0) and his second against the Wild (Box Score).
NOTES: During the bye week last weekend, the Americans teamed up with the Eagle Mount Therapeutic Recreation Center playing sled hockey with them at the Great Falls Ice Plex.
The Americans have two final special promotions utilizing their Fan Activation partner, DASH. The first item up for auction is a team signed White and Red jersey that began on March 1st. Each jersey is signed by the 2024-25 American players and staff that is part of our Toyota Fan Appreciation Night on March 8th. DASH also has a limited number of 8 X 10 framed photos with team signatures to purchase beginning on March 8th. Please scan the QR Code to get activated with DASH and participate in these final promotions.
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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: The Americans will conclude the regular season by hosting the Butte Irish on Saturday, March 8th with the puck dropping at 7:05PM (MST) at the Great Falls Ice Plex. The game will serve as the Billet Family Appreciation Night where the host families will gather between one of the periods to be recognized with their host player(s). NAHLTV will have the regular season finale live on their official streaming service.
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.