Nationals trek to Wyoming

The start of the North American Tier 3 Hockey League season was a tough one for the Glacier Nationals, but when you play the top two teams in your division, that’s to be expected.

For the Nationals the fact that they started 0-2 and were defeated so handily had a lot to do with the fact that they faced Great Falls, which defeated them 12-1 and Helena, which bested them 7-1 at the Havre Ice Dome last Saturday.

Fortunately, for the Nationals, the NA3HL season is a long one, and they still have plenty of time to grow and make up ground. They will look to start that process this weekend, when they will travel to Gillette to take on the Wild in back-to-back games Friday and Saturday nights. Both games will begin at 7:30 p.m.

One advantage that Glacier will have going into its game against Gillette is that the Nationals have played a couple of games coming in, the Wild will be just opening their season Friday night.

But, as good as Great Falls and Helena are, the Wild aren’t far off. Last season, Gillette posted a 33-13-1 record, which earned the club 67 points, good enough for third in the final Frontier Division standings. And while the Wild, like the Nationals, have had some players move on, they still have some stellar talent returning.

The best player coming back for the Wild may be Mithcell McEwan, who not only was second on the team a season ago in goals with 17, but also led Gillette in assists with. The Wild also have Cade Boreing, their leading scorer with 22 goals a season ago back for another campaign. Gillette also returns Alex Feese from a season ago after he put together a tremendous season a year ago with a 2.11 goals against average as well as a 20-10 overall record.

The Nationals have some experienced players back and also ones that can do some damage offensively, such as Tyler McMahon, who scored a goal a week ago and Marvin Simmons, an exciting player who has notched one assist thus far. Regardless of who it comes from, one thing Glacier must do is get more shots on goal.

Against both Helena and Great Falls, the Nationals were outshot by a wide margin, which led to them being outscored 19-2 in just two games. So the offense needs to be better at attacking, while the defense needs to get better at keeping the puck away from goaltenders Ryall Purdy, Ben Perone and Mikhall Pahrebets.

All three goalies saw action last weekend against Great Falls and Helena and could each see time again this week against the Wild. Purdy was the best in limited action with a save percentage of 88 percent and a goals against average of 6.0. Perone enters saving 84 percent of the shots he faces with a goals against average of 7.0. Pahrebets struggled the most and has a goals against average of 15 and a save percentage of just .744.

Regardless of who is in the net, Glacier will need to improve in every phase of the game to steal a road win in Gillette. The back-to-back starts Friday and concludes Saturday. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m. each night.