Busy weekend for improving Nationals

The Glacier Nationals may not have a shot of making the playoffs in the Frontier Division of the North American Tier 3 Hockey League, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have something to play for over the final month and a half of the 2014-15 season.

The Nationals, who defeated the Yellowstone Quake 3-2 last Saturday for their sixth win of the season, are looking to build on that momentum and prove this weekend against three of the division’s top teams that they are better than their 6-22-5 record suggests.

The Nationals have a busy weekend ahead of them and it all starts tonight inside the Havre Ice Dome, where they will host the Great Falls Americans. The first puck will drop at 8. After hosting Great Falls, Glacier will travel to Billings Saturday to play the Bulls at 7:30 p.m., before returning to the Ice Dome Sunday to take on the Helena Bighorns at 4:15.

“It’s too bad we put ourselves in such a hole as far as the playoffs go because I think we have really turned a corner,” Nationals GM/head coach Butch Kowalka said. “But it’s really important for us to finish the season strong and build some positive momentum going forward. We have a lot of home games down the stretch and that will give us a good chance to do that.”

The Americans, who boast a 27-5 record and sit atop the Frontier Division standings, should expect to get all they can handle from the Nationals, who just fell to the Americans 2-1 last Sunday in Great Falls. Over their last three games against each other, the Americans have outscored the Nationals by just two goals, 10-8, proving the difference between the two teams at this point is not monumental.

Yet, one big advantage the Americans will have is their ability to score as they have found the net 120 times in 32 games compared to the 62 times for Glacier in 33 games. The biggest weapon for the Americans that the Nationals will need to neutralize is Lucas Lomax, who boasts a team-high 20 goals this season. Great Falls has a number of other talented scorers but the next best player on their roster may well be goaltender Lauren Masise, who has a goals against average of 2.00 and a save percentage better than 92.

However, the Nationals have two players that have been filling up the stat sheet recently in Karson Frisk, who leads the team with 12 goals, and Joshua Larson, who is right behind him with 11. Goaltender Ryan Lund has also been stellar with a 3.66 goals against average and 91.9 save percentage.

Following their game against Great Falls, the Americans will go to Billings to take on the Bulls for the first time since Nov. 29, when the Americans pulled out a 3-2 victory by way of a shootout.

If the Nationals are going to knock off the Bulls for the second time in a row, they will need a strong defensive effort to slow an offense that has notched over 100 goals this season. The Bulls are led offensively by Tristan Henrichs, who has a team-high 17, and Alex Lundstrom, who has pitched in with 15. In addition to a strong scoring line, Billings also has a very talented goaltender in Cole Semchak, who has a 92.5 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.47.

Sunday, Glacier will get an opportunity to knock off Helena, which is 5-0 against the Nationals this season. The second-place Bighorns are dominant on both ends of the ice and have outscored their opponents 69 goals in 32 games.

Former Havre Ice Hawk Brandt Miller along with Matt Mohar lead the way for Helena in the scoring department with 17 goals and 14 goals respectively. The Bighorns also own four very strong goaltenders that all have goals against averages of less than 2.26. Yet, Grant Martens in the No. 1 in net for Helena and boasts a 19-8-6 record on the season. The Bighorns also boast Havre native Blake Preeshl.

“Confidence is a huge thing in hockey,” Kowalka said. “And we are starting to play with more confidence. We just had our best practice of the season, and I think at this point we can compete against anyone.”

The Nationals’ busy weekend starts tonight inside the Havre Ice Dome at 8 p.m. It will continue Saturday on the road against Billings at 7:30 p.m., and conclude Sunday at home against Helena at 4:15 p.m.