Glacier stuns Great Falls

It had been 49 days since the Glacier Nationals had tasted victory and when it’s been that long, you begin to wonder if they remember how it feels to be on the winning side. But, last Friday in Great Falls, the Nationals got that wining feeling again at the most unlikely time.

In the first of back-to-back road games, the Nationals knocked off the Great Falls by the score of 2-1 thanks to a short-handed goal with 37 seconds remaining in the game by Joshua Larson. The loss was just the second of the season for the Americans, who came into the game in first place in the Frontier Division of the North American Tier 3 Hockey League with a 15-1 record.

Yet, the Nationals could not carry that momentum over to Saturday night, when they traveled to Helena to take on the Bighorn and were soundly defeated by the score of 8-0.

But even though Glacier failed to get two wins on the trip, putting an end to their 10-game winless streak meant the trip was a success.

In the first game against Great Falls, things got off to a familiar start as the Americans jumped out to an early 1-0 with a goal by Malachi Bushey with 2:36 left in the first period.

From that point on, Nationals goaltender Ryan Lund pitched a shutout. By the end of the night, Lund would rack up a total of 57 saves as Glacier was outshot by the Americans 58-19.

Thanks to a herculean effort from Lund, the Nationals were still within a goal entering the third period. Then, 6:02 into the third, Glacier took advantage of a power play opportunity when Tommy Kaddatz scored to tie things up with 13:58 remaining.

Lund and the Nationals defense kept the Americans off the scoreboard but after a penalty on Luke Dickison for tripping with 1:18 left in the game, which gave the Americans a power play advantage, things looked dicey.

But just when the heavily favored Americans appeared setup to sneak out the win, Larson beat Great Falls goalie Lauren Massie with 37 seconds remaining to give the Nationals their first lead of the night.

Glacier, still short-handed, held the Americans scoreless for the final 37 seconds to clinch just their second win of the season. Lund earned his first win of the year with his spectacular performance, while Massie was hit with the loss after stopping 17 of 19 shots fired at him.

On Saturday the Nationals were looking to win consecutive games for the first time in the 2014-15 season but, unfortunately, the Bighorns were having none of it.

Helena got the scoring started early and after goals by Daniel Mills and Daniel Liberko, the Nationals found themselves facing a 2-0 deficit at the end of the first period.

In the second, things got worse for Glacier as Helena poured it on with goals by Brandt Miller and Jay Forbes to give the Bighorns a 4-0 lead entering the final period.

Offensively, the Nationals simply couldn’t get anything going and were only able to muster 18 shots on goal compared to the 37 shots for the Bighorns.

In the third period, the Bighorns extended their lead, thanks to goals by Matt Blassic and Nick Trefry to give Helena a commanding 6-0 lead. But even then, the Bighorns weren’t finished as Forbes scored two more goals to make the final score 8-0 in favor of Helena, while also giving himself the hat trick.

Lund was hit with the loss for Glacier after surrendering eight goals and posting 28 saves. Alex Kruger of Helena earned the victory after stopping all 18 Nationals’ shot attempts and earning the shutout.

With one win and one loss, the Nationals improved to 2-13-3 on the season but remain in sixth place out of seven teams in the Frontier Standings. Glacier will return to the Havre Ice Dome this Friday, when the Nationals will host Helena. The first puck will drop at 7:30 p.m.