The Helena Bighorns hosted the Gillette Wild on Friday night on the first of two important games within the Frontier Division of the NA3HL.
Helena has 34 points on the season and trails the Wild by six points in the standings by 40. So Friday’s game, the first of two this weekend in Helena, was important for the Bighorns and Helena found a way to win it by a score of 3-1.
The Wild and Bighorns had the two top records in the Frontier a season ago and met in the final round of the Frontier Playoffs with a trip to the national tournament on the line.
Helena won last season and the Bighorns found a way to win on Friday night to at the Helena Ice Arena. Harlan Wojtusik opened the scoring with a first-period goal and after 20 minutes, Helena led 1-0.
Eight minutes into the second period, Isaac Young tied the score thanks to a goal for the Wild, but the score didn’t stay tied for long. Zach Turner scored less than five minutes later for Helena. The lead remained the same until late in the third quarter when Wojtusik scored again to wrap up the 3-1 win.
Gillette still leads the position but the Wild’s lead in shrinking and Helena will look to tighten things up more with a second straight win. The first puck will drop at the Helena Ice Arena at 7 p.m. on Saturday night.
