The Butte Cobras began their 22-23 season on the road this week in Great Falls.  The Americans came out on top in a hard fought game, winning 3-2. The two teams split last years series 3-3…so it’s no surprise that this game was a tight one throughout.

Great Falls opened the scoring just 3 minutes into the game on a re-direction off the stick of Jace Thompson that gave the Americans a 1-0 lead. The Cobras had 4 power play opportunities in the period to tie things up, but Great Falls goaltender Josh Koziol withstood a barrage of shots to keep the Cobras off the board.

“We had our opportunities and we outshot them but Koziol stood on his head tonight so you have to give him credit” said Head Coach Kirk Golden.

Great Falls made it 2-0 on  a power play goal in the second period before The Cobras struck back with a rebound goal by Tamer Billman at 13:34 to cut the lead in half at 2-1. The Americans made it 3-1 heading into the 3rd period after a mad scramble for the puck in front of Cobras Goalie Caleb Cross found the back of the net.

The Cobras finally cashed in on a power play goal with 6:42 left in the game when Patrick Crooks was able to get one by Zoziol to cut the lead to 3-2. Great Falls was able to withstand a final push from the Cobras to hold on for the victory.

Coach Golden summarized “It wasn’t what we wanted as far as the outcome is concerned but I’m happy with the effort the boys put into tonight’s game. We had some first game jitters but as always, we have some things to work on when we hit the ice for practice”.

The Cobras will continue on the road this weekend when they travel to take on the The Sheridan Hawks in a pair of games in Sheridan. Following this weekend, the Cobras will have one more road game in Bozeman (Sept. 23rd) before their home opener against those same Bozeman IceDogs Saturday night, Sept 24th, at the Butte Community Ice Center. Game time is at 7:30.