The Johnstown Tomahawks defeated the Maryland Black Bears Saturday night in the one and only game of the weekend in Johnstown by a final score 4-1.
There wasn’t much action in the game until 9 minutes in when Jay Ahearn was sent to the penalty box for hooking. Just under a minute into the penalty kill, Daniel Colabufo trickled the puck in behind Josh Graziano for the opening goal of the game. 30 seconds after the goal, Maryland’s Jack Hillman got called for tripping. While the Black Bears killed off that penalty, the Tomahawks went right back to the power play another 30 seconds after the first kill as Garrett Szydlowski was called for slashing. 40 seconds into the penalty, Daniel Tkac found the back of the net amid a pileup in the crease to put the Tomahawks on the board and tie the game at 1 as the 1st period started to wind down. The Tomahawks looked to take the lead with 2:27 remaining in the period, but the goal was called off due to incidental contact with the goaltender, ending the opening frame tied at 1.
The 2nd period started with Anthony Mastromonica taking a hooking penalty, which he very strongly disagreed with. The Tomahawks penalty kill unit killed off the penalty with ease. Things started to flare up on the ice between the two teams, resulting in coincidental roughing minors going to Johnstown’s Ethan Webb and Maryland’s Aden Bruich. After both those penalties ended, things calmed down for a bit as both teams began to refocus on getting the important go-ahead goal. While that goal wasn’t scored in the 2nd period, the Tomahawks ended the period and would start the 3rd with the upper hand as Jack Hillman was called for hooking, giving the Tomahawks 13 seconds of power play time to end the period, and the remainder of the two minutes to start the final period of the game.
Reed Stark wasted no time getting another power play goal for the Tomahawks, putting them up 2-1 just 29 seconds into the 3rd period. Then 1:21 later, Jay Ahearn scored the eventual insurance goal for the Tomahawks, netting his 29th of the season. About a minute later, the game took a turn as anger and aggression came flying from both sides. The 3rd period ended with 104 penalty minutes between the two teams as the craziness ensued. With 3:55 in the game, Matt McQuade got his sixth goal of the season, securing the 4-1 win for the Tomahawks on Saturday night.
The Tomahawks are back again next weekend at 1ST SUMMIT ARENA for their final homestand of the regular season against the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks. It will be a three game weekend Friday May 14th, Saturday May 15th and Sunday May 16th. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster or the Tomahawks office.