Nationals continue road trip in Bozeman

After playing two road games against the best team in the Frontier Division, the Glacier Nationals will play two more games away from home this weekend in Bozeman.

The Nationals will take on the Bozeman Icedogs, another team from the Frontier Division of the North American Tier 3 Hockey League. The teams will play each other tonight and Saturday with each game starting at 7:30 p.m.

The Nationals, who are 1-12-1 on the season, are sitting at the bottom of the Frontier. Bozeman (6-4-1), on the other hand, is right in the middle of the pack in fifth, but is just five points out of second place. Glacier is four points out of seventh and will need to start getting some positive results for that to change.

The biggest issue for the Nationals right now, is the their inability to defend their goal. Last week, against Gillette, the Wild had back-to-back games with more than 90 shot attempts. And for the season, the Nationals have allowed 99 goals, 33 more than the next worst team in the division. It’s also an average of more than seven per game.

What makes matter worse for the Nationals is that they are also the least productive offensive team in the division with 26 goals, 14 fewer than the next team. That leaves Glacier with a goal differential of minus 73. Bozeman’s goal differential is minus four, thanks to 42 goals scored and 46 goals against.

On the offensive end of the ice, the Nationals will look to Jamahl Eckett to keep giving a spark to the offense. He has scored a team-high six goals in nine games and also has two assists on the season. Lindros Beard has been another key skater for the Nationals and is the co-leader in points with nine, thanks to four assists. Gavin Cline also has nine points with four goals and five assists, while Zach Houck has a team-high eight assists.

Defensively, the Nationals are led by Houck, Grant Denton, Brendan Echelbarger and Riggs Zeilder. Brendan Schultz and Will Langstaff are the two goalies that saw action against Gillette last weekend and should be in net against the Icedogs.

Bozeman boasts three solid goaltenders in Benjamin Sakaria, Luke Olson and Charlie Smart. They have a combined goals against average of 4.12. The Icedogs offense is led by Steven Nisbet, who has eight goals and eight assists so far this season. Stosh Skorulski and Kadin Ferguson also have seven goals a piece coming into the weekend.

The Nationals and Icedogs will open their two-game start tonight at 7:30. The two teams will also meet Saturday at 7:30 p.m.