Hunter Nets Hat Trick in 7-2 Romp of Northeast

Dec 4, 2016

JOHNSTOWN – Johnstown Tomahawks forward Dalton Hunter scored his first career hat trick to catapult the Tomahawks to a 7-2 win over the Northeast Generals Sunday afternoon at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena.

The Generals score the game’s first goal on the power play when Artsiom Anosau threw a shot on net that solved Tomahawks netminder Vinnie Purpura at 13:19 of the first period.

Johnstown’s Donovan Ott tied the score at 1-1 with a power-play goal at 16:16. Hunter and Adam Pilewicz had the assists on the goal.

Hunter would give the Tomahawks a 2-1 lead with only 33 seconds remaining in the first period when his shot went five-hole on Generals goalie Gabe Vinal.

After a scuffle between Northeast forward Anthony Mangano and Tomahawks defenseman Ed Hirka, the Tomahawks went to work on a five-minute power play in the second period.

Hunter wasted little time connecting on the man advantage when his wrist shot beat Vinal from the left wing circle. The goal chased Vinal from the cage in favor of David Fessenden.

Ott and Pilewicz assisted on Hunter’s second of the afternoon.

Less than a minute later at 8:11 of the second, Daniil Bokun sent a wrist shot from the point that beat Fessenden clean. Samuel Solensky and Hayden Rowan picked up helpers on the tally that made the score 4-1 Tomahawks.

At 11:36, the Tomahawks gained a 5-1 lead when Logan Stork went bar down on Fessenden. Josh Norman and Andrew Quetell had the assists.

The Tomahawks increased their lead to 6-1 30 seconds into the third period when Samuel Solensky chipped a puck past Fessenden. Bokun and Hayden Rowan assisted on the goal.

Hunter finished his impressive afternoon by scoring his hat trick goal at 3:58 of the third period. Hunter scored his first hat trick of his career in the game.

Generals forward Evan Somoza scored his second of the weekend to move the score to 7-2 and set the final score.

Purpura stopped 17 pucks en route to his sixth victory on the season. Fessenden registered the loss in relief.

The Tomahawks take to the road before the Holiday break for a two-game set with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights at Revolution Ice Centre. Game one of the series is Saturday, Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m.

Johnstown returns home on Friday, Dec. 30 to face the defending Robertson Cup champions, the Fairbanks Ice Dogs. December 31 is the traditional New Year’s Eve game at the War Memorial. For tickets, call 1-800-745-3000, visit the War Memorial box office or order online at Ticketmaster.com.