The Johnstown Tomahawks defeated the New Jersey Titans Saturday night at 1ST SUMMIT ARENA in Johnstown to complete the weekend sweep and earn four points.
The game started with somewhat of a shock as New Jersey had Christian Stoever starting in net for tonight’s game after his rough night between the pipes the game prior, allowing 5 goals before being pulled. Stoever stood tall stopping all nine shots faced in the 1st period, proving he belonged in net again for the Titans. After his two-goal game yesterday, Reed Stark had a breakaway opportunity early in the game, but was rejected his third goal of the weekend with a save by Stoever. The first penalty of the game went to Brendan Clark when he got called for tripping 6:09 into the game. The Titans got a few shots on net, but the Tomahawks penalty kill unit was on it blocking shots and keeping the puck away from goaltender Josh Graziano. New Jersey’s Cade Penney lost his balance with the puck and took a penalty in an attempt to keep the Tomahawks from gaining possession. Johnstown ended up with the puck going down the ice on an odd-man rush, but Stoever made yet another big save to keep the Titans from falling behind like they did in yesterday’s game. With only 25.3 seconds remaining in the period, Dusty Geregach got sent to the box, giving the Titans an advantage to work with at the end of the period. Graziano took the spotlight with him to end the period, making a few solid save on the penalty kill to keep us scoreless in the 1st period.
After some ruckus between Johnstown’s Brendan Clark and New Jersey’s Anthony Calafiore, the two got sent to the box for roughing minors 7:39 into the 2nd period. 39 seconds into the penalty, Jay Ahearn found the back of the net for his 21st of the season and first goal of the game, then headed towards the penalty box to share the celebration with Clark. The remainder of the period played out with a lot of great back and forth, two-way hockey, but no scoring change, sending the game into the final frame with the Hawks ahead by one.
Will Margel made it 2-0 for the Hawks, scoring on a turnover only 4:58 into the 3rd period. Tempers started to flare between the two teams in the final 20 as there was a total of ten penalties called with five going to each team. The final penalty of the night went to Brendan Clark with just over three minutes to go. New Jersey pulled their goalie then also to have a 6-on-4 advantage, looking to get on the board. It only took a minute for Max Neill to score on the empty net to make it a 3-0 game and final for the Tomahawks, giving Josh Graziano the shutout and a weekend sweep against the Titans.
The Tomahawks are on the road next weekend to faceoff against the Nordiques in Maine. Both Friday and Saturday’s games are scheduled for 7 PM and will be broadcasted on HockeyTV.