Nationals fall to rivals Great Falls and Helena

The Glacier Nationals had the unfortunate task of taking on two of the best teams in the Frontier Division of the North American Tier 3 Hockey League this past weekend and the result was a pair of road losses.

Friday, the Nationals traveled to Great Falls, where they took on the first-place Americans. The 10-0 victory for Great Falls improved their perfect record on the year against Glacier to 6-0. Then Saturday, the Nationals traveled to Helena, where they did battle with the Bighorns, who also knocked off Glacier at home by the score of 5-1. With the defeats, the Nationals fell to 2-18-2 on the season, which is essentially at the midway point.

Things got ugly in a hurry for the Nationals in the opening game of their two-day road trip as the Americans scored four goals in the first period to take a 4-0 lead. Great Falls added three goals in the second period and three more in the third period to cruise to the 10-goal victory.

Tanner Congdon notched a hat trick in the win for the Americans, with a goal in the second and two in the third. Richard Berhards and Hayden Moinster also scored twice, while Jacob Draves, Adams Apanaglook and Brendan Jester each scored once.

Lauren Massie earned the shutout win in net for Great Falls after stopping all 21 shot attempts he faced. Raymond Smith got the loss for Glacier after allowing four goals on 21 shots. Ben Perone also allowed six goals and posted 36 saves in relief duty.

On Saturday, the Nationals played much more competitively against Helena, but once again a poor start was their undoing as the Big Horns scored twice in the first seven minutes of the game to grab a quick 2-0 lead. Glacier would answer with a goal from Tyler McMahon before the first period ended, trimming the lead to 2-1, but it would prove to be the only goal mustered by the Nationals.

Helena added a goal in the second period by Cody Vanthournout and two in third period by Jack Dolan and Matt Blassic to put the game away.

Alex Kruger got the win in net for Helena with 35 saves and just one goal allowed. Mikhail Pahrebets was given the loss after stopping 37 of the 41 shot attempts that he faced.

The Nationals will be in action next at the NA3HL Showcase, which is held annually in Minnesota. Glacier will take on Sugar Land, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Those games will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week, with start times of 6:15 p.m., 2:45 p.m. and 10:30 a.m.