Frontier Division opens 2017 Silver Cup Playoffs

March 9, 2017

March madness has made its way to the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL), as playoffs for the Frontier Division begin this weekend.

 

The Frontier Division of the NA3HL is the largest of the league’s eight divisions, with eight total teams squaring off for six playoff spots. In the 2016-17 regular season, the standings filled out as follows:

 

#1 Yellowstone Quake (40-4-0-3)

#2 Great Falls Americans (38-4-2-3)

#3 Gillette Wild (35-11-1-0)

#4 Missoula Junior Bruins (27-16-3-1)

#5 Bozeman Icedogs (24-21-2-0)

#6 Helena Bighorns (15-31-1-0)

#7 Billings Bulls (5-41-0-1)

#8 Glacier Nationals (2-44-1-0)

 

In the first round of Frontier Division playoffs, seeds #1 and #2 have bye weeks. The highest seeded winner of the remaining four teams will go on to play seed #2, and the lowest seed advancing goes onto play seed #1. Week 1 features best-of-three game series.

 

Frontier Division Week 1 playoff matchups:

Seed #1, Yellowstone and Seed #2, Great Falls both have bye weeks

 

Facts: The Wild will see a strong performance from forward Riley Holwegner continue, who is tied for #16 in points in the NA3HL at 73. As a member of Team White at the NA3HL Top Prospects event, Holwegner has averaged 1.70 points per game this season. Helena’s Bradley Estrada leads the way for the Bighorns, totaling the most points (51) putting up four game-winning goals for his team this season. The Top Prospects participant averaged 1.13 points per game.

Schedule: 

Game 1: Thursday, March 9th - Gillette at Helena  (Helena Ice Arena, 7:05 pm MST)

Game 2: Friday, March 10th - Helena at Gillette (Spirit Hall Ice Arena, 7:05 pm MST)

Game 3 (if necessary): Saturday, March 11th - Helena at Gillette (Spirit Hall Ice Arena, 7:05 pm MST)

 

Facts: Missoula’s Misha Akatnov is tied for the #16 spot for total points in the entire NA3HL, having scored 73 through the regular season. His offensive efforts earned him a spot at Top Prospects, having contributed 1.66 points per game this season. Bozeman’s top forward, Steven Nisbet, leads the team in points (57) and holds a +24 stat line going into the post-season. Nisbet averaged 1.21 points per game during the 2016-17 NA3HL season.

Schedule: 

Game 1: Saturday, March 10th - Bozeman at Missoula (Glacier Ice Rink, 7:30 pm MST)

Game 2: Sunday, March 11th – Missoula at Bozeman (Haynes Pavilion, 7:30 pm MST)

Game 3 (if necessary): Monday, March 12th - Bozeman at Missoula (Glacier Ice Rink, 6:30 pm MST)

 

All NA3HL playoff action can be watched live on HockeyTV.com