Glacier Nationals Hockey Preview: Nationals look to be much-improved

For the past couple of years, the community of Havre has gotten used to another fall sport and that sport is hockey, and in particular, the Glacier Nationals of the North American Tier 3 Hockey League.

The Nationals moved to Havre two years ago and now are on the brink of their third season, which starts Friday night in Great Falls. The Nationals will play their first home game Saturday.

“You are rebuilding every year and trying to move forward and I think we are doing a great job of that,” Nationals general manager Butch Kowalka said. “We have some key guys coming back from last year, but the new guys are also a positive force in what we are doing. Rob (Powell, the head coach) and I worked really hard this summer recruiting players, and we feel that we have a good group of core guys back. We still have a couple of spots to fill, but the main kids are here and we look pretty good.”

In junior hockey, the natural evolution is that players leave. The system is designed that way. So the Nationals are not alone in having to replace players as a number either moved up to the NAHL or received college scholarships.

However, there are some contributors from last year’s team will be returning and among them is Havre’s own Brandon Huntington, who scored five goals and finished with nine assists for a total of 14 points last season. Some of the other key players returning are forward Gavin Cline and defenseman Grant Denton.

Chinook’s Kade Friede will also be joining the team once the high school football season is over, while others returning for Glacier include forward Wyatt Mattfeldt, defenseman Brendan Echelbarger and goalie Misha Pahrebets.

“I think that we have a pretty good core group to start out with,” Kowalka said. “That is a good group to bring back, they are pretty dedicated and focused on what they are doing. We also have a lot of new kids from Utah and Arizona and we have a good mixture of players right now. They seem to get along really well.”

Last season, the Nationals finished last in the Frontier Division, when it contained seven teams. Now, the division has expanded and has added the Missoula Junior Bruins, in addition to regulars Helena, Great Falls, Billings, Bozeman, Yellowstone and Gillette, to give the league eight teams.

“Last year, we struggled with wins and losses, even though we were competitive, we just couldn’t get the wins,” Kowalka said. “This year, obviously that is something that we are focused on. We want the competition level to get a little bit more consistent and that should move us forward. Making the playoffs is a goal in the early part of the year, but we are looking good and we won’t really know what other teams have until the first week or two.”

In order to make the playoffs, the Nationals would need to finish in the top four in the Frontier Division standings, something that could be a tall order with strong teams like Great Falls, Helena, Gillette and Billings all battling for those spots. Yet, Kowalka said the Nationals’ early-season schedule is a favorable one and on top of that, he said his team may still be overlooked.

“I think the teams will underestimate us a little bit,” Kowalka said. “And we really like the first part of our schedule. We play a lot of teams that we were very competitive with last year and so we feel good about that.”

Kowalka also said having Powell back, who was previously the head coach during the 2014-15 season, was a big boost when it came to getting players.

“Obviously, Rob has so much experience that he brings that to the table,” Kowalka said. “He has so much coaching knowledge in the game that he gives your team a little bit of an edge. But his experience also helped us bring in better players. They feel like he has a track record of placing players and our team worked really hard at that and even though we had a rough year last year, we still did pretty well with our college placements.

The Nationals have already taken part in some preseason games in Medicine Hat, Aleberta, and they will open their season Friday in Great Falls. The Nationals will host Great Falls Saturday for its home opener.

After that, the Nationals will take part in divisional play until Dec. 15-17, when the team will take part in the prestigious NA3HL Showcase in Blaine, Minnesota. The regular season will conclude March 4 and the NA3HL playoffs will begin shortly after.