Wenatchee at Johnstown
Friday February 21st
7:30 p.m. EST
The Series
Tonight, the Johnstown Tomahawks and Wenatchee Wild begin their final series this season at the War Memorial. The teams have met six times this season, with both teams winning three games. The teams most recent meetings came on Dec. 6 and 7, with the teams splitting the pair of games at the Town Toyota Center. In the first game, Jakob Ahlgren scored a pair of second period goals to give the Wild a 2-1 win. Shane Bednard scored the Tomahawks goal with 3:03 remaining in the first period. Brandon Reinholz and Mitch Hall added assists on the power-play goal. Just 22 seconds into the second period, Ahlgren got the Wild on the board with an unassisted goal. He added a power-play goal at 7:07, setting the final at 2-1.
In the second game, the Tomahawks took a 4-2 lead into the third period, with goals coming from Trevor Recktenwald, Bednard, and Bowes. The Wild tied the game late, with two goals in the final 1:03. The game eventually went to overtime, where Mitch Hall won the game in the seventh round.
The Tomahawks
The Tomahawks look to extend their winning streak to four games, after sweeping Michigan last weekend. They shutout the Warriors 5-0 in the first game, before picking up the weekend sweep with a 6-4 victory on Saturday night. Jordan Watt scored four goals in the two games, includ-ing a hat trick on Saturday night. Alex Okicki earned both wins, including his fourth shutout on Fri-day night. The Tomahawks are currently one point behind the Warriors for second place and seven points behind the Port Huron Fighting Falcons for the top spot in the division. They are six points ahead of Springfield and Soo and eight points ahead of Janesville. Following this weekend’s games, the Tomahawks travel to Michigan next Friday and Saturday.
The Wild
The Wild travel to Johnstown for their final road trip of the season, after sweeping Soo last weekend in Wenatchee. The Wild took both games with 3-1 victories, to stay in the fourth spot in the Midwest division. Wenatchee is currently twenty points behind first place Fairbanks and eight points behind the Minnesota Wilderness. They trail third place Coulee Region by four points, and lead Kenai River by two points for the final playoff spot. Following this weekend’s games, Wenatchee opens up a season-ending homestand against Kenai River next Thursday.
Division Preview
Michigan travels to Springfield for a pair of games against the Jr. Blues tonight and tomorrow. Janesville travels to Soo tonight, before playing at Port Huron tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon.
Key Stats
- This weekend’s game features a pair of players (Tanner Barnes & Omar Mullan) facing off against their former teams. Barnes was traded to the Tomahawks in exchange for Mullan on January 6th.
- The Tomahawks are 5-3-2 in games outside of their division this season.
- Matthew Meier has assists in three-straight games.