Nationals earn a road point

The Glacier Nationals hockey team got their season off to a difficult start their first weekend with a pair of blowout losses at the hands of Helena and Great Falls. This past weekend, the Nationals took on another difficult team in Gillette, on the road in Gillette, Wyoming, and even though the Nationals didn't come away with a win, they at least came away with a point.

The Nationals, who play in the North American Tier 3 Hockey League, were outscored 19-2 in their first two outings. But in a back-to-back with the Wild, a playoff team a season ago, Glacier was much more competitive, dropping Friday's game 8-2 before losing in overtime Saturday night by the score of 5-4. The big positive to take away is that in the NA3HL, the overtime losses earn a point, so at least the Nationals were able to make some headway in the Frontier division standings.

On Friday night, Glacier got off to a positive start and at the end of the first period, both teams had 15 shots on the night, but the score was tied up at 0-0. However, the second period is when the flood gates opened for the Wild and there was little the Nationals could do to stop them.

The Wild scored five goals before the second intermission and by then the game was out of reach. Yet, Glacier continued to fight and got a pair of goals in the third and final period from Tyler McMahon and Wyatt Fretheim. Alex Freese got the win for Gilette as he turned back 32 of 34 shots from Glacier, while Nationals' goalie Mikhail Pahrebets hit with the loss for the Nationals.

On Saturday, it looked like the second game of the back-to-back was going to go much the same way the first did as the Wild jumped out to a 3-0 lead by finding the back of the net three times during the first 3:21 of the game. But, this time, Glacier had an answer as William Bostwick scored to shrink the Wild lead down to 3-1 after the first period.

Following a scoreless second period, Gillette increased its lead to 4-1 with a goal by Cade Boreing 49 seconds into the final frame, but still Glacier refused to quit. McMahon showed again why he is the best scorer in the club as he found beat Wild goalie Stephen Wroe twice within a seven-minute span to trim the deficit down to 4-3 with just over seven minutes remaining. Then, with just over four minutes to play in the game, Marvin Simmons scored the equalizing goal, which sent the contest into overtime.

But, as hard as Glacier fought, it simply didn't have enough left in the tank to overtake the Wild, who got a goal from Kyle Traux 1:39 into the extra session to put the Nationals away and seal the 5-4 win for Gillette.

Wroe earned the win for Gillette with 31 saves on 35 shot attempts, while Pahrebets was stuck with the loss again, despite finishing the game with a total of 29 saves.

The Nationals, who are now 0-3-1 on the season, will be back on the ice this coming Friday, when they will welcome the Great Falls Americans into the Havre Ice Dome for a Frontier division clash. The first puck will drop at 8 p.m. Glacier is on the road at Helena on Saturday night.