Nationals head to Billings in search of wins

The Glacier Nationals have gone some time without winning a game, but with a trip to Billings on tap this weekend, they will have as good a chance as any they have had in the past three months.

That's because the Nationals last victory in the Frontier Division of the North American Tier 3 Hockey League, came on Oct. 10 when the team defeated Billings by the score of 5-2. And recently when the Nationals went to Billings two weeks ago, they led in back-to-back games against the Bulls before losing twice 7-5. The two teams will play the first of back-to-back games tonight at 7:30. They will also meet Saturday at the same time.

One of the most promising developments for the Nationals recently was the fact that they scored five goals in consecutive games against Billings. Offensive production has been hard to come by for Glacier, but the team does boast three solid scorers, highlighted by Tyler McMahon, who leads the team with 17 goals. He also has 17 assists to give him a total of 34 points.

Collin Schieman has also turned into a scoring presence recently and is second on the team in both goals and assists with 12. William Bostwick has also reached double figures in terms of goals with 10. He also has nine assists.

Yet, the Nationals biggest deficiency this season has been their defense and slowing down a talented Billings roster won't be easy. The Bulls, like Glacier, have three double-digit goal scorers led by Zach Heiser, who leads the team with 14. Tristian Henrichs is second on the team with 12 goals, but also has 26 assists and has a team-high 38 points. Chris Nicolai also has 12 goals for Billings this season.

The biggest advantage that the Bulls will likely have over the Nationals is in net. Billings has a pair of solid goaltenders starting with Brandon Brown, who has played in 17 games and has a record of 4-11-1 in net as well as a goals against average of 4.83. Gage Overby has also started 17 games and has a record of 1-12-1 and has a goals against average of 4.83.

The Nationals on the other hand have a slew of goalies that could see time between the pipes this weekend and that includes Kevin Hale, who is 2-6 on the season, as well as Ben Perone, Raymond Smith and Mikhail Pahrebets.

The Nationals and Bulls will drop the puck tonight and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Billings for back-to-back games.