Weekend Preview: Visiting the Bear’s Den

Feb 16, 2018

Your Johnstown Tomahawks hit the road again this weekend as they travel to Soldotna to take on the Kenai River Brown Bears on Friday, February 16 and Saturday, February 17 at Soldotna Sports Center.

This is the second and final meeting between the teams, with Johnstown taking both games on January 5 and 6 at 1st SUMMIT ARENA @ Cambria County War Memorial. This is the final leg of the Alaska road trip, with the first half being played last weekend at the Big Dipper Ice Arena where the Tomahawks were swept by the Fairbanks Ice Dogs.

Samuel Solensky continues to add to his team-leading points total, as he scored a goal on February 10 against the Ice Dogs. That currently gives him 29 points on the season (11 goals and 18 assists).

Joe Kile is also someone to watch, who earned the assist on Solensky’s goal last Saturday. He has notched five points (one goal and four assists) in his last eight games.

Kade Phipps and Jack Leavy look to rebound from last weekend, giving up a combined eight goals (five on Friday and 3 on Saturday) on 57 total shots.

The Kenai River Brown Bears are currently sitting in last place in the Central Division with 38 points. With former leader in points Luke Radetic being traded to the Philadelphia Rebels, both Gil Garcia and Cameron McDonald currently lead the team with 30 points.

Goaltender Gavin Enright has started a majority of the games for the Brown Bears, posting a 3.82 goals against average and a .894 save percentage in 29 games played.

Player Spotlight: Joe Kile

Forward Joe Kile, a native of Troy, Mich., is in his second season with the Johnstown Tomahawks and has quickly become a player to watch out for night in and night out.

Last year he played in 50 regular season games with Johnstown as a rookie, notching 17 points (nine goals and eight assists) and amassing 79 penalties in minutes. He also played in two playoff games against the New Jersey Titans, but didn’t register a point.

Kile has already surpassed his point total from last season, putting up 21 points (11 goals and 10 assists) in 45 games. He is currently tied for second on the team in points with Ben Schmidling and tied for second in goals with Samuel Solensky.

The 6’0 forward has three points (three assists) in his last four games. He was a big part of the Tomahawks’ sweep of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights a few weeks ago, setting up Pavel Kharin’s opening goal on Friday, January 26 and Carson Briere’s game-winning overtime goal on Saturday, January 27.

In his last 11 games, Kile has a total of seven points (two goals and five assists).