JOHNSTOWN – The Johnstown Tomahawks found themselves on the wrong side after 60 minutes once again on Saturday night, losing a tight one to the Rochester Jr. Americans by a score of 5-4.
After dropping last night’s contest, the Tomahawks were looking to right the ship and get momentum on their side early on Saturday night. Shortly after the two-minute mark of the period, it was once again the Jr. Americans who found the back of the net first on the power-play giving them a quick 1-0 lead. It might have been a few minutes earlier than the night before, but it still took almost seven minutes for the Tomahawks to register their first shot-on-goal. At the 11:00 minute mark the Tomahawks were given their own chance on the man-advantage to strike but came up unsuccessful. With just over five minutes to play in the 1st, Rochester struck again to give themselves a strong 2-0 lead seemingly heading for the break in that same position. However, just 16 seconds later the Tomahawks would find the back of the twine thanks to Charlie Zetterkvist’s sneaky blocker side snipe. Caden Olenczak and Andrew Cowgill were given credit for the assists on the play and the score was 2-1 heading to intermission.
The scoring once again started early in the 2nd period, after Rochester doubled their lead and made it 3-1. Hawks’ forward Adam Ondris would answer right back about three minutes later and made it a 3-2 game with the two assists going to Kirby Perler, and Caden Olenczak. Some of the action in this one started to get rather chippy and the restless crowd at 1st Summit Arena was letting the officiating crew hear it as several penalties were called against Johnstown in questionable scenarios. Continuing the trend, the Tomahawks were sent to the box yet again around the 10:00 minute mark but this time, some good fortune was sent the Tomahawks way when Lukas Klemm found the back of the net after a beautiful pass from Nick White whilst shorthanded to tie the game and inject new life into the building. The Tomahawks seemed to have finally settled in and found themselves in the spot they wanted to be in, until Rochester grabbed the lead back yet again in deflating fashion with the goal coming with just under a minute to go. The teams went to intermission at a 4-3 Rochester advantage.
The start to all six of the weekend’s periods seemed to be the Tomahawks’ kryptonite as they surrendered the first goal in each contest and gave up multiple first-five-minute goals in several periods. All three of Saturdays periods featured Rochester goals within the first three-minutes. The Jr. Americans doubled their lead to 5-3 early in the 3rd with a quick blocker side wrister. The Tomahawks should be happy with the way they are able to respond so quickly just when things start to look darkest and that remained the case when Ryan Flaherty made it a 5-4 game just two-minutes after Rochester scored. Flaherty had assists from Tate Pecknold and Andrew Cowgill on the play. The remaining 17 minutes of play resembled that of last night, in which the Tomahawks essentially needed two goals to win the game, with time very much not on their side. Rochester showcased solid defensive play and did a good job keeping their pressure on the Tomahawks to withhold the lead. The Tomahawks came up short once again, falling to the Jr. Americans by a score of 5-4 to wrap up the weekend series.
The Tomahawks return to action next weekend on December 13th and 14th for a weekend series vs the Danbury Hat Tricks. Puck drop is set for 7:30PM on Friday night at 1st Summit Arena. December brings an action-packed home schedule for the Tomahawks, featuring exciting promotions you won’t want to miss—grab your tickets now at www.johnstowntomahawks.com. For the latest updates, follow us on social media @tomahawkshockey!
By DREW P. PFEIL | drew@johnstowntomahawks.com