Glacier hosts Billings

The Glacier Nationals season is winding down, but before it’s over for good, they have a tremendous opportunity to close out the 2014-15 campaign with positive momentum moving forward into next year.

That opportunity for the Nationals begins this weekend when they host two of the best teams in the Frontier division of the North Americans Tier 3 Hockey League. The action will start on Saturday as the Nationals will host the Billings Bulls before welcoming the Helena Bighorns into the Havre Ice Dome Saturday. The first puck will drop Friday at 8 p.m. Sunday, things will get underway at 12:15 p.m.

The Nationals, who come into the weekend with a 10-28-5 record on the season, will have their work cut out for them against a Billings squad that is headed once again for the Frontier playoffs. In six games this year between the two teams, the Nationals have won just once and back on Jan. 17 the Bulls defeated Glacier by the score of 8-3.

A big key for the Nationals will be getting more shots on goal and being more productive on the offensive end of the ice. For that to happen, Glacier will need big performances from its top three goal scorers in Karson Frisk, Joshua Larson and Tommy Kaddatz.

Yet, Glacier also needs to worry about an explosive Billings offense that features six double-digit goal scorers led by Tristian Henrichs, who has a team-high 21 goals so far this season. Billings has a number of other talented goal scorers, which is why the Nationals will need a stellar defensive effort to limit their shot attempts.

In terms of goaltending the Nationals will be counting heavily on Nolan Slager, who earned a win and a loss in two starts last weekend against Bozeman. He will be countered by Cole Semchak of Billings, who is one of the top net-minders in the Frontier.

After taking on Billings, the Nationals will play host to second-place Helena (30-10-2), a team that is 6-0 this season against Glacier. The Bighorns are talented on both ends of the ice and boast two of the top offensive players in the league in Brandt Miller, who has 22 goals this season for Helena as well as Matt Mohar, who has 16 and Nick Trefry, who has come and strong of late and has 15.

The Bighorns also possess some of the best goaltending depth in the Frontier and will have two very good goalies they can put between the pipes on any given night. Their usual goaltender is Grant Martens, who is 17-7-2 on the season with a goals against average of just 1.93. Alex Kruger is also 9-1 on the year for Helena and has a solid goals against average of 2.23.

The two games this weekend complete a four-game home stand for the Nationals. The first game against Billings Friday is set to get underway at 8 p.m., followed by the quick turnaround Sunday for the matchup with Helena at 12:15 p.m