Nationals shut out in Gillette

After a two-game home stand, the Glacier Nationals took to the road this past weekend to take on one of the toughest teams in the Frontier Division of the North American Tier 3 Hockey League.

No team enjoys moral victories but considering just how good the Gillette Wild are, there is no shame is the results of this weekend's games for Glacier, as the Nationals fell 1-0 and 3-0 to the Wild on consecutive nights in Gillette.

With the losses, the Nationals fell to 4-20-4 overall on the season. They are still tied for last place with the Bozeman Ice Dogs. Gillette, on the other hand improved to 20-9-1 on the season and now have 41 points, which puts them in second place behind Great Falls, which leads the Frontier with 48.

The first game between Glacier and Gillette was a dream for hockey fans who love good defense and great goaltending because that is exactly what defined the divisional matchup between the Nationals and Wild.

Both teams went scoreless in the first period and the game remained tied at 0-0 for much of the second until Brandon Beard of Gillette beat Nationals' goaltender Ryan Lund for a goal with 1:28 left in the second to give the Wild a 1-0 lead.

From there Wild goaltender Sean Kelley made sure the one goal was enough for Gillette to win. Kelley, who is among the best goalies in the Frontier stopped 33 Glacier shots, which earned him the shutout and the win. Lund was also spectacular in defeat and stopped 39 of 40 shots on the night for the Nationals.

Saturday night, Lund was once again in net for Glacier but this time he was facing off against the Wild's other stellar goaltender Alex Feese.

For the second night in a row, the two teams were tied at 0-0 at the end of the first period. But this time it was only a few minutes into the second, when the Wild broke through. Mitchell McEwan beat Lund on a goal that was assisted by Beard and Lance Pennington and the Wild grabbed a 1-0 lead.

Then, with 10:41 left in the second, Beard beat Lund for the second straight night to give Gillette a 2-0 going into the third and final period.

Despite an aggressive offensive effort from Glacier, which attempted 34 shots, the same number as Gillette, Feese was simply too good. He helped shut out the Nationals for the second consecutive game and when Gillette's Alex King scored with 13:43 left to play, the Wild took a 3-0 lead that ended up being the final margin of victory.

Feese finished the game with 29 saves, while Kelley also contributed to the shutout with five saves in limited action. Lund was hit with the loss again despite turning away 31 Wild shots.

The Nationals will be off this weekend and will not be back on the ice until Jan. 2 when they travel to Bozeman to take on the Ice Hawks in back-to-back road games.