Cody Page’s hat trick sparks Great Falls to victory

By Kevin Scott

GREAT FALLS, Mont., March 6, 2014 —The Great Falls Americans took a commanding lead over the Glacier Nationals by scoring five goals in the final period on Thursday night to pick up a 7-1 victory at the Great Falls Ice Plex. Cody Page scored three of the Americans final five goals for a hat trick.

The Americans and Nationals skated to a tie with each team getting points on the scoreboard after the first twenty minutes of action. Brady Christiaens connected on his 14th goal of the season with 11:28 on the clock. Aaron McInnis and Dylan tacked on the assists for the home team. Great Falls would maintain their one goal lead until Jackson Schroeder scored from a pass by Tyler Latimer tied the contest before the first intermission. Glacier goaltender Pierre Gustafsson faced 22 shot attempts by the Americans offense while Evan Hauser swatted away eight.

Both defenses came ready to play in the second period as it looked like neither team was going to score any points until Steven Butts found an open Dylan Garton with 23 seconds remaining to put the Americans up 2-1.

In the final period, Great Falls started firing on all cylinders and scored five goals including a hat trick by Cody Page. Page opened up the period by getting two goals in the first three minutes with help from three different teammates including Lucas Stover, Aaron McInnis and Great Falls native Brady Christiaens assisted on both scoring drives for coach Jeff Heimel’s team. Arizona native Austin Nottke found the back of the net midway through the final period as Austin Krantz and Paul Sartuche chipped in the assists. Cody Page registered his third goal (hat trick) with 1:14 left and then Steven Butts scored an unassisted goal 11 seconds later to give the Americans their 35th victory of the season with one more regular season game left on the schedule.

The offense for the Americans made sure that the Glacier goalie (Pierre Gustafsson) was kept busy as they forced 52 shots with seven successful attempts. Meanwhile, Evan Hauser stopped 12 of the 13 attempts by Glacier.

Brady Christiaens first period goal and the scoring opportunity in the third period by Cody Page were the only successful power plays that the Americans took advantage of throughout the night. Penalties played a vital role for both teams but especially for the Nationals who received 53 minutes of penalties on 16 infractions. Great Falls finished the night with 10 infractions for 23 minutes.

Great Falls opened the 2013-14 season with Bozeman and they will finish the season with them on Friday, March 7th beginning at 7:30 p.m. as the Americans celebrate Billet Family Appreciation Night.at the Great Falls Ice Plex.

NEXT CONTEST: The Americans will face the Bozeman Ice Dogs on Friday, March 7, 2014 in their regular season finale at the Great Falls Ice Plex with the action beginning at 7:30 p.m. The Americans start their playoff run on Tuesday, March 11th at Gillette, Wyoming.

	Period 1	Period 2	Period 3	Final
Great Falls	1	1	5	7
Glacier	1	0	0	1

First Period – 1, Great Falls, Brady Christiaens (power play) (Aaron McInnis, Dylan Garton), 8:32. 2, Glacier, Jackson Schroeder (power play) (Tyler Latimer), 15:42.

Second Period – 3, Great Falls, Dylan Garton (Steven Butts), 19:37.

Third Period –4, Great Falls, Cody Page (Brady Christiaens, Lucas Stover), 0:40. 5, Great Falls, Cody Page (power play) (Aaron McInnis, Brady Christiaens), 2:50. 6, Great Falls, Austin Nottke (Austin Krantz, Paul Sartuche), 10:14. 7, Great Falls, Cody Page (Dylan Garton, Connor Barta), 18:46. 8, Great Falls, Steven Butts (unassisted), 18:57.

Shots on Goal – Great Falls 52, Glacier 13.

Power-play Opportunities – Great Falls 2-for-10, Glacier 1-for-5.

Attendance – 305

Box Score: Great Falls @ Glacier

Final

Helena Ice Arena Wed, Mar 05, 2014 7:35 PM MST

Great Falls 0

Helena 6

GAME DETAILS

SCORING

SHOTS

	1	2	3	TOTALS
Great Falls	0	0	0	0
Helena	1	1	4	6

	1	2	3	TOTALS
Great Falls	5	5	6	16
Helena	18	16	22	56

POWERPLAYS

Great Falls 0 – 4 : Helena 3 – 7

SCORING SUMMARY

Period 1

Helena – Nick Okada (power play) (Damon Hanson, Sebastian Hansson) 16:45

Period 2

Helena – Sam Bratten (short handed) (Kyle Baker, Theo Campe) 17:59

Period 3

Helena – Nick Okada (power play) (Dylan Webster, Sebastian Hansson) 1:40
Helena – Nick Okada (power play) (Corbin Belling, Logan Henne) 7:48
Helena – Sam Bratten (Kyle Baker) 8:50
Helena – Dylan Webster (Sebastian Hansson, Damon Hanson) 10:52

PENALTIES

Period 1

Glacier – Jackson Schroeder – (Holding), 2 MIN, 2:34
Glacier – Brett Fernandez – (Unsportsmanlike Conduct) (Bench Minor), 2 MIN, 2:34
Great Falls – Lucas Stover – (Slashing), 2 MIN, 8:10
Glacier – Austin Givens – (Roughing), 2 MIN, 8:10
Great Falls – Bridger Strong – (Roughing), 2 MIN, 8:10
Glacier – Chris Cutshall – (Too Many Men), 2 MIN, 8:10
Glacier – Brett Fernandez – (Delay of Game), 2 MIN, 8:10
Glacier – Austin Givens – (Unsportsmanlike Conduct) (Game Ejection), 10 MIN, 8:10
Glacier – Cody McGlocklin – (Roughing), 2 MIN, 10:17
Glacier – Tucker Spooner – (High Sticking), 2 MIN, 12:00
Great Falls – Lucas Stover – (Checking from Behind), 2 MIN, 14:07
Glacier – Robert Dawson – (Roughing), 2 MIN, 17:18
Great Falls – Cody Page – (Slashing), 2 MIN, 17:18
Glacier – Austin Svingen – (Roughing), 2 MIN, 19:47

Period 2

Great Falls – Steven Goran – (Too Many Men) (Bench Minor), 2 MIN, 2:00
Glacier – Chris Cutshall – (Tripping), 2 MIN, 3:00
Glacier – Danny Roe – (Cross Checking), 2 MIN, 7:34
Great Falls – Paul Sartuche – (Checking from Behind), 2 MIN, 10:19
Great Falls – Paul Sartuche – (Unsportsmanlike Conduct), 2 MIN, 10:19
Glacier – Brett Fernandez – (Slashing), 2 MIN, 12:36
Great Falls – Steven Butts – (Holding), 2 MIN, 13:40

Period 3

Glacier – Danny Roe – (Unsportsmanlike Conduct) (Game Misconduct), 10 MIN, 0:26
Glacier – Austin Svingen – (Cross Checking), 2 MIN, 2:10
Great Falls – Jonnathan Carpenter – (Roughing), 2 MIN, 3:00
Glacier – Tucker Spooner – (Roughing), 2 MIN, 3:00
Great Falls – Jonnathan Carpenter – (Fighting) (Major), 5 MIN, 9:23
Glacier – Tanner Dodd – (Fighting) (Major), 5 MIN, 9:23

Glacier

Great Falls

#	NAME	G	A	PTS	+/-	S	PIM
2	McGlocklin, Cody	0	0	0	-1	0	2
4	Dodd, Tanner	0	0	0	-1	0	5
7	Gustafsson, Pierre	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	Cutshall, Chris	0	0	0	-3	0	4
9	Latimer, Tyler	0	1	1	-2	0	0
10	Fernandez, Brett	0	0	0	-2	0	4
11	Roe, Danny	0	0	0	0	0	12
12	Svingen, Austin	0	0	0	-2	0	4
13	Frisk, Karson	0	0	0	0	0	0
14	Dawson, Robert	0	0	0	-4	0	2
15	Ripple, Padraic	0	0	0	-1	0	0
17	Spooner, Tucker	0	0	0	-2	0	4
18	Schroeder, Jackson	1	0	1	-2	0	2
19	Dalton, Adam	0	0	0	-2	0	0
20	Archuleta, Shane	0	0	0	-3	0	0
21	Givens, Austin	0	0	0	0	0	12
22	Kinder, Paul	0	0	0	0	0	0
24	Hayes, Jacob	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	Wiese, Ethan	0	0	0	0	0	0

#	NAME	G	A	PTS	+/-	S	PIM
00	, Bench	0	0	0	0	0	0
1	Powell, Erik	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Strong, Bridger	0	0	0	+1	0	2
4	Sartuche, Paul	0	1	1	+2	0	4
5	Krantz, Austin	0	1	1	+1	0	0
6	Garton, Dylan	1	2	3	+2	0	0
7	Page, Cody	3	0	3	+2	0	2
8	Lomax, Lucas	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	Goran, Steven	0	0	0	+2	0	0
11	Kaercher, Max	0	0	0	+2	0	0
14	Carpenter, Jonnathan	0	0	0	+1	0	7
15	Butts, Steven	1	1	2	+2	0	2
17	Gatson, Erik	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	Link, Reed	0	0	0	+1	0	0
19	Carter, Trent	0	0	0	+2	0	0
20	Christiaens, Brady	1	2	3	+1	0	0
23	Stover, Lucas	0	1	1	+2	0	4
27	Nottke, Austin	1	0	1	+1	0	0
29	Barta, Connor	0	1	1	+2	0	0
30	Hauser, Evan	0	0	0	0	0	0
93	McInnis, Aaron	0	2	2	+1	0	0