Glacier drops two in Gillette

The Glacier Nationals have come close to the winner's circle recently, but unfortunately, this past weekend, they were not as close as they would have liked to be.

The Nationals, who play in the Frontier Division of the North American Tier 3 Hockey League, were in Gillette, Wyoming, to take on the Wild in a battle of Frontier teams. And on back-to-back nights, the Wild had their way with the Nationals, defeating them 7-2 and 7-1 Friday and Saturday respectively.

With the losses, the Nationals winless streak has reached 27 games and they are now just 2-29-2 on the season. On the other hand, Gillette improved to 18-16 on the year with the sweep and is now within six points of Helena for the fourth and final playoff spot awarded to the Frontier.

In the first game between the two teams Friday, the Nationals hung around early on and after the first period, trailed just 1-0. Early in the second period, the Wild scored to push their lead to 2-0, but Glacier answered on a goal by Brett LeBeau and after two, the Wild lead was 2-1.

Yet, the flood gates opened in the third period and the Wild scored five goals, compared to just one goal by the Nationals from Tyler McMahon, to wrap up the 7-2 win. Stephen Wroe earned the win in net for Gillette with 31 saves on 33 shot attempts, while Kevin Hale got the loss for Glacier after allowing six goals on 50 shot attempts.

On Saturday, the Wild once again jumped out to an early lead as they scored two goals in the opening stanza, compared to just one by the Nationals, who got a goal from William Bostwick to keep them within striking distance at 2-1.

However, in the second period, the Wild exploded for four goals in the final 13 minutes of the second period, which turned a one-goal game, into a 6-1 blowout. Gillette added a goal for insurance in the third period and cruised to the 7-1 victory.

Alex Feese was the winning goalkeeper for the Wild after turning back 24 of the 25 shot attempts he faced. Raymond Smith was given the loss for Glacier after stopping just 33 of the 39 shots he faced. Mikhail Pahrebets also saw time in net for the Nationals and stopped 11 of 12 shots in the third period.

The Nationals will be on the road again this week as they will travel to Billings for back-to-back games against the Bulls. The two teams will play on both Friday and Saturday with each game scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.