A weekend road trip to Sheridan got off on the wrong path, but by Saturday night the Butte Irish (15-15-1-0) had secured two points and a weekend series split with the second place Sheridan Hawks.
Poor weather and an issue with the team bus on Friday afternoon put the Irish behind before the first puck dropped in Sheridan. Arriving well past the scheduled game time of 7:30 PM the team arrived at the arena and immediately prepared to hit the ice. Over two hours late, the opening faceoff happened well after 9:30 PM. Playing without their leading scorer, Andrew Browe, a leg-weary squad eventually dropped the game 12-3. Browe was recently called up to skate with the Elmira Aviators of the NAHL.
Loghan Weber, Kazden Stineff and Toby Kerr scored for Butte. Weber also chipped in with a pair of helpers while Easton Langemo assisted on all three goals. The Hawks out shot the visitors 62-25 in the game which didn’t end until early AM on Saturday.
Butte would bounce back the following evening though with standout performances from Langemo, Stineff and Weber. The red-hot Langemo completed a seven point weekend by scoring a hat trick and an assist. Stineff, Kerr, Zach Pilkinton and Weston Villers also scored for the Irish who defeated the Hawks 7-5. Stineff also added three helpers in the game.
Weber assisted on five goals in the Saturday affair to finish the weekend with eight points. He and Langemo have come back from the holiday break playing confidently after a stint skating with the Kenai River Brown Bears of the NAHL.
The Irish return to home ice next weekend when they host the Bozeman Icedogs Friday and Great Falls Americans on Saturday. Both rivals currently sit ahead of Butte in the NA3HL Frontier Division standings in the race for the top four and a playoff berth.
