Glacier falls at home

While Havre High sports took center stage this past weekend due to homecoming, the Glacier Nationals were also in action, doing battle once again with the Great Falls Americans Friday in the Havre Ice Dome.

The Nationals, who were defeated by the Americans 12-1 back on Sept. 18 in the season-opener for both teams, were much more competitive Friday night and were within striking distance before four goals in the third period gave Great Falls a 5-1 win.

Glacier, which plays in the Frontier Division of the North American Tier 3 Hockey League is now 0-3-1 on the season currently is near the bottom of the Frontier standings.

Yet, progress is progress for the Nationals, and following their 11-goal defeat at the hands of Great Falls two weeks ago, few of the 400 fans that turned out to watch the game likely thought it would be close.

However, especially in the early going, the Nationals had other ideas. Despite the Americans generating a number of scoring chances in the first period and a total of 13 shots on goal, Nationals’ goalie Mikhail Pahrebets blanked Great Falls in the opening stanza and heading into the second period the score was tied up at 0-0.

Then, with just under 15 minutes to go in the second, the Nationals struck first as Tyler McMahon scored thanks to assists by Brett LeBeau and Wyatt Fretheim to put Glacier in front 1-0.

Unfortunately, the lead would not last long. The Americans, who are among the two or three best teams in the Frontier, responded just 56 seconds later, when Malachi Bushey beat Pahrebets for a goal that tied the score and sent the game into the third period knotted at 1-1.

Despite allowing the equalizing goal so soon, the Nationals entered the third period feeling optimistic about their chances of stealing a win or at least a point away from the Americans. But, Great Falls was not having it.

Just 1:56 into the third period, the Americans took their first lead of the game when Tanner Congdon scored an unassisted goal to give Great Falls a 2-1 edge. At that point, Glacier was still right in the thick of things until Richard Bernhards and Arseny Ivanov scored twice in less than a minute to extend the Americans lead to 4-1 with 13:35 remaining in the game.

Glacier did a good job of creating opportunities to score in the third with seven shots on goal in the frame compared to just six for Great Falls, but the Nationals simply couldn’t capitalize. And when Tegan Harrington found the back of the net with 3:38 left to play to give the Americans a 5-1 lead, the game was all but over.

Kevin Hale earned the win in net for the Americans with a total of 23 saves and just one goal allowed. Pahrebets, on the other hand, was given the loss after stopping just 27 of the 32 shots that he faced.

The Nationals are still in search of their first win during the 2015-16 campaign and will look to get it this coming weekend, when they will take on the Billings Bulls in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday night at Ranger Arena in Sidney.