News

GF Tribune: Americans crush Quake, move on to Silver Cup semis

By Tribune Staff

April 2, 2016

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – It took some time, but the Great Falls Americans have the Yellowstone Quake all figured out.

The two Frontier Division members met for the 11th time this season Friday night.

Just a little more than a week ago, before the puck dropped in the league finals between the Americans and the Quake, the hockey squad from Great Falls had struggled to a 3-5 mark against the regular-season champions from Wyoming.

Eight days later, Jeff Heimel’s Americans have won three times in as many tries against Yellowstone and captured a Frontier title in the process. Smooth-skating forward Wade Wylie registered a hat trick, net minder Lauren Massie stopped 20 of 21 shots and the Americans blew out the Quake 8-1 in the North American 3 Hockey League’s Silver Cup on Friday night.

“We did what we did in the finals,” Heimel said, “bottle up their forwards and be patient. We wanted to keep them contained and we knew we’d have our opportunities.”

Heimel was complimentary of Massie’s performance between the pipes. Massie, who went 16-7-1 in the regular season with a 1.86 goals against average and .929 save percentage, hadn’t played since March 12.

“Lauren played fantastic,” Heimel said. “We were so proud of how he played. That’s the benefit of having two guys who can play like that.”

The Americans reached 40 wins with the triumph, improving their record to 40-12-2 on the season. Wylie tallied five points, and Tegan Harrington, Josh Larson, Stevan Goran, Tyler Garcia all had two points apiece. Blake Miller, the former C.M. Russell High athlete, notched a plus-2.

With the win, Great Falls, winless in this tournament a year ago, advances to the semifinal round Saturday. Great Falls, the second-place finisher in Pool A, will play the Metro Jets (Mich.) at 4 p.m. Saturday. The Jets won Pool B play with a 3-0 record. Read More>