Glacier trips to Bozeman

The Glacier Nationals have a long season ahead of them and despite their slow start, if they can get things back on track, they still have a chance to make some noise in the Frontier Division of the North American Hockey League.

If that's going to happen, getting a win or two on the road this weekend against the Bozeman Ice Dogs would be a good start. The Nationals (2-8-1) will take on the Ice Dogs (4-3-1) in a back-to-back division games starting tonight at 7:30. The two teams will close out their two-game set Saturday with first puck also dropping at 7:30 p.m.

Glacier comes into this weekend's game in need of points in the standings following consecutive losses at the hands of the Billings Bulls last weekend, the second of which was a narrow 5-4 defeat.

With those losses the Nationals find themselves in the cellar of the Frontier Division with just five points. Billings is just above the Nationals with six points and in fifth place with nine points is Bozeman.

The top four teams in the final standings will earn berths in the NA3HL playoffs and right now Great Falls (18 points), Yellowstone (13 points), Helena (12 points) and Gillette (10 points) are holding down those spots. And with Bozeman in the fifth spot, another winless weekend of hockey would definitely put the Nationals behind the eight-ball in the playoff chase.

Thankfully for Glacier, the Nationals boast one of the best offensive players in the Frontier Division in Tyler McMahon, who has a total of 13 goals in just 11 games. McMahon also has assisted on four goals this season and has a team-high 17 points. Another highly productive player on the ice for the Nationals has been Marvin Simmons. Simmons, who, like McMahon, is in his second year with the team, is the Nationals' second-leading scorer with five goals. He is also the team leader in assists with nine.

Collin Schieman is another important contributor on the offensive end for Glacier and thus far this season, he has five goals and two assists. No other Glacier player has scored more than two goals, which has been done by Logan Kraft, Wyatt Fretheim, Dustin Foran and William Bostwick.

Yet, the biggest problem so far this season for the Nationals hasn't been their offense, it's been their lack of defense. Through 11 games, they have scored 35 goals but have surrendered a whopping 67. That's nearly six per game and largely because of that the Nationals' goal-differential is -32.

Bozeman, on the other hand, has scored 33 goals in eight games and allowed just 24 goals, giving the Ice Dogs a goal differential of plus nine. The Ice Dogs also have a much more balanced offensive attack that is led by Kegan Couture (six goals). Steven Nisbet (four goals) as well as Elliot Hopkins and Casy Gobel, who each have three.

The Ice Dogs will also have huge advantage between the crease as they boast one of the top goalies in the Frontier in Stephen Frank, who is 4-2 on the season with a goals against average of just 1.98. Meanwhile, Glacier will choose from four possible goaltenders in Raymond Smith, Ryall Purdy, Ben Perone and Mikhail Pahrebets. Of those four, only Purdy has a winning record at 1-0 and a goals against average of under five.

The first puck will drop in Bozeman between the Nationals and Ice Dogs at 7:30 p.m. The two teams will also meet at the same time on Saturday also in Bozeman.