JOHNSTOWN – In front of a standing-room only crowd of 3,671 the Johnstown Tomahawks used a four-goal third period to defeat the Kenai River Brown Bears during the team’s traditional New Year’s Eve hockey game at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena.
Brendan Jaquay started the scoring for Johnstown with his sixth goal of the season. The native of Lansdale, Pa., deposited a loose puck past the outstretched pad of Brown Bears goalie Brian Baker at 2:41 of the first period.
Minutes later, Andrew Romano scored goal number eight of his season to increase the Johnstown lead to 2-0. Logan Hudson registered the lone helper on the goal.
Kenai River would mount a comeback which started with a goal from Justin Bofshever at 8:42 of the second period.
The Brown Bears tied the game with less than four minutes to play in the second period when Cameron Cook scored his seventh goal of the campaign on the power play. Adam Kresl and Jeffrey Fasegha assisted on the tally.
Bofshever scored his second of the night early in the third period to give the Brown Bears the lead.
The Tomahawks tied the game when Casey Linkenheld scored a shorthanded breakaway goal. The goal was Linkenheld’s twelfth of the season.
Johnstown regained the lead when Linkenheld scored off a Luke Lynch pass. In seven career games against the Brown Bears, Linkenheld has eight goals.
Adam Pilewicz tallied a goal with less than five minutes to go in the final frame to give Johnstown a 5-3 lead. Justin Cmunt added his second assist of the game on the goal.
Luke Lynch added an empty-net goal to seal the Tomahawks 6-3 victory.
With the victory, the Tomahawks improve to 3-0-1 all-time in New Year’s Eve contests and also gain two points in the East Division standings.
Andrew Lindgren picked up his fourth victory and second consecutive win as a Tomahawk while Bake r picked up his fifteenth loss on the season.
The Tomahawks are back in action on Saturday, January 2 when they host Kenai River. The team is hosting a Ladies Night with a special $7 ticket discount for women as well as accepting dress donations to benefit Cinderella Project. For tickets, call 1-800-745-3000 or visit the War Memorial box office.