Nationals improve in close losses in Gillette

When the Glacier Nationals North American Tier 3 Hockey team takes the ice, they want to win. But the main goal of the club is still about player development. And while the Nationals did not get a win this weekend, they certainly took another step forward in terms of overall development.

After losing to both Helena and Great Falls to begin the season, the Nationals went on the road this past weekend for back-to-back games Friday and Saturday nights against the Gillette Wild at the Spirit Hall Ice Arena in Gillette, Wyoming. The Wild, who are one of the top clubs in the Frontier Division, swept the two-game set against the Nationals by the scores of 7-2 and 3-2.

With the losses to Gillette, Glacier falls to 0-4 on the season and currently shares the bottom of the Frontier Division with the Yellowstone Quake. The Wild improved to 3-0 on the season and are tied with Great Falls and Helena for first place as the lone unbeatens in the league.

“We were pretty pleased with how we played,” Nationals general manager Butch Kowalka said. “We only had a little bit of time when we played well in the first two games and against Gillette we had periods we played well. We like how the boys are coming along and getting better. If we could have had a bounce of the puck go our way here or there we might have been able to get a win.”

In the first game last Friday, the Nationals were competitive early and managed to take the lead with an unassisted goal by Sam Shaheen 43 seconds into the game. Yet, the Wild answered on a goal by Austin Tennant, which tied the score at 1-1 with just 12 seconds left in the first period.

Glacier continued to hang around in period two but could not keep the Wild off the scoreboard. The first blow was dealt when Taylor Garner scored with 11:35 left in the second, then with 2:10 to go in the period, the Wild found the net again courtesy of T.J. McMinn, giving Gillette a 3-1 lead heading to the third.

The Nationals applied pressure early in the third when Wyatt Fretheim scored an unassisted goal to pull Glacier within one at 3-2 with 13:35 to go in the game. But, a Nationals comeback was not meant to be. The Wild scored the first of four straight goals less than three minutes later to put the game on ice and seal the 7-2 win.

Garner had the best performance of any player on the ice Friday, scoring twice, while also notching a pair of assists for the Wild. Gillette goaltender Sean Kelley also had a solid outing with 35 saves and just two goals given up to earn the win.

For the Nationals, Shaheen and Fretheim were the only players to register points as they each scored a goal. Nolan Slager got the loss for the Nationals but did save 62 of the 69 shots that came his way.

Saturday, the two teams met for a rematch and despite dropping a very close game, the Nationals played what was easily their best hockey of the season.

Early on, it looked like Gillette would dominate after goals by Trent Dillinger and Cade Boreing gave the Wild a 2-0 lead with 8:59 to go in the first period. Yet, the score would stay that way until Shaheen found the net for the second night in a row to trim the lead to 2-1 with 8:36 to play in the second.

Then, with 10:19 left in the game, Nationals’ defenseman Blake Evennou scored the game-tying goal, giving Glacier a fighting chance to earn its first win of the season. Unfortunately, the tie was short lived as Dillinger scored to give the Wild a 3-2 on what turned about to be the game’s deciding goal.

Shaheen led the way for the Nationals in defeat with a goal and an assist. Evennou added a goal, while Fretheim and Logan Kraft each had an assist.

Dillinger was the game’s top goal scorer with two. Trevor Ruiz and Brandon Beard also had assists in the win for the Wild.

Josh Beatty earned the win in net for Gillette after allowing just two goals on 38 shot attempts. Ryan Lund of Glacier was given the loss after giving up three goals on 47 shots.

The Nationals will return to Havre and are set to host back-to-back games at the Havre Ice Dome this weekend when they host the Yellowstone Quake Friday and Saturday. The action will get underway at 8 p.m. Friday night and 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.

“We have some new players coming in and the boys we have now are getting better, so we are feeling good about the future,” Kowalka said. “We had a chance to get a win this weekend and just couldn’t quite finish the deal, but we feel like we are close and are very competitive right now.”