Quake gets by Glacier in Havre

The Glacier Nationals may not have ended their losing skid this past weekend, but by going toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the Frontier Division, the Nationals proved they at least have plenty of fight left in them.

The Quake, who are in the hunt for the top spot in the Frontier, a division within the North American Tier 3 Hockey League, defeated Glacier in back-to-back games Friday and Saturday inside the Havre Ice Dome — but it wasn’t as easy as expected. The Nationals nearly pulled an upset in the first game between the two teams, before falling 4-3. Then on Saturday, Glacier was downed 9-2.

The Nationals, who have gone winless since October, got off to a very strong start Friday and thanks to a first-period goal by Gavin Gline, the Nationals led 1-0 after 20 minutes of play. However, Glacier wasn’t done and at the 13:40 mark of the second period, Logan Kraft beat Yellowstone goalie Lance Knudson to give the Nationals a 2-0 advantage.

Unfortunately, for Glacier, the good feelings wouldn’t last long. The Quake are playoff contenders for a reason and showed why after scoring four consecutive goals to take the lead. Yellowstone scored twice before the end of the second, making the score 2-2 going to the third period. In the final stanza, the Quake scored twice in the first 6:32 to grab a 4-2 lead.

William Bostwick would finally answer for Glacier as he scored with just under 11 minutes remaining to trim the Yellowstone lead down to 4-3. But, in the end, Glacier was unable to score the tying goal and fell just short of sending the game to an extra session.

Knudson earned the win in net for the Quake after turning away 17 of 20 shots fired on net by Glacier. Mikhail Pahrebets was the losing goaltender, despite notching 46 saves.

After barely coming away with a win Friday, the Quake made sure not to underestimate the Nationals on Saturday and after five goals in the first period, Yellowstone put any notion of a Glacier upset to bed.

In the second period, the Quake added two more goals right off the bat to extend their lead to 7-0, before the Nationals finally got something going on the offensive end of the ice. Collin Schieman got Glacier on the board with a goal and Bostwick scored another before the end of the second to make the score 7-2.

Yet, Glacier never was able to make a game out of the in third period. Yellowstone added two goals in the third period to put the game away and wrap up the seven-goal victory.

The Quake defense dominated throughout, allowing the Nationals to get off just 13 shots on goal during the game. That effort also helped goalie Evan Eriksmoen get the win even though he stopped just 11 shots. Pahrebets got the loss again after saving just 19 of 24 shots.

Glacier will be back in action this Friday, when the Nationals will play the first of back-to-game road games against the Gillette Wild.