The Tomahawks are back home after winter break to take on the Fairbanks Ice Dogs at 1ST SUMMIT ARENA @ Cambria County War Memorial for two games this weekend, with puck drop on Saturday at 7 p.m. and a special 6 p.m. start for their annual New Year’s Eve matchup.
This will be the first two of four meetings between these teams, with the next slate of games taking place on February 9 and 10 at the Big Dipper Ice Arena.
The Tomahawks will be without the help of Sam Solensky, who currently leads the team with 23 points, as he is representing Team Slovakia at the World Junior Championships in Buffalo.
Donovan Ott hopes to remain hot as he has 11 points in his last nine games while Ben Schmidling has six points in his last seven. Goalie Kade Phipps looks to remain solid in net as he leads the team with a 2.02 goals against average and has won in three of his last five starts.
The Ice Dogs currently sit in first place of the Midwest Division with 43 points and has won eight of their last ten games. Samuel Ruffin and Hunter Wendt both lead the team in points with 32 and 31, respectively, while Erkka Vanska heads into the weekend on a nine-game point streak, totaling 12 points over that time span. Rookie goaltender Logan Neaton currently sits on a six-game win streak.
Saturday’s 7 p.m. start is also Guaranteed Win Night courtesy of the Pennsylvania Lottery, where the first 2,000 fans will receive a Tomahawks’ team calendar and a scratch-off ticket that guarantee’s a prize for the recipient.
Sunday’s special 6 p.m. puck drop marks the city’s annual New Year’s Eve hockey tradition, where the first 1,000 fans will receive a noisemaker courtesy of Coors Light. Fans can also join a special post-game celebration with the Tomahawks players.