Nationals host Amercians

Recently, the Glacier Nationals ended their lengthy losing streak. But since then, they have been unable to build on that success.

Yet tonight inside the Havre Ice Dome, the Nationals will get a chance to do something they have not done all year and that is beat the Great Falls Americans. The Nationals and Americans will get things going at 8 p.m.

Despite winning two weeks ago, the Nationals have still won just one game since October and have an overall record of 2-39-1. Great Falls, on the other hand, 33-3-2 and with 71 points, sits just two out of first place.

With seeding in the playoffs on the line, the Nationals should get everything the Americans have to offer. One thing that makes Great Falls so difficult to beat is the fact that its defense is tops in the Frontier, allowing just a total of 80 goals. By comparison, the Nationals have surrendered a league-high 312. Glacier has also scored just 60 goals, while the Americans have found the net a total of 216 times.

The Nationals are also running out of goal scorers and with the season coming to a close, Matt Baerg is the top goal scorer that remains active for the team. He and Brandon Huntington both have a team-high of five goals. Brendan Schutlz, Jeremiah Clark and Will Langstaff will do the goaltending for the Nationals tonight, but none can compare to the outstanding goalie the Americans boast in Kyler Ayers, who lost only one game this season and has a goals against average of 1.0. Nick Nast is another option and his goals against average is 2.0.

The Americans also have a slew offensive stars such as Tanner Congdon, who has scored 34 goals and dished out 34 assists. Brendan Jester, a former Nationals player, is another standout with 29 goals and 33 assists, while Danny O’Donnell is another threat with 17 goals and a team-high 41 assists.

The Nationals and Americans will meet tonight inside the Havre Ice Dome. The first puck drops at 8.