After striking first, the Tomahawks’ next focus was going to be keeping up the tempo and not letting Maryland settle in. It’s safe to say they did all of that and more.
The Tomahawks would go on to dominate the 1st period striking twice more, tripling their lead and putting themselves in a fantastic spot for the remaining 40-minutes of play.
The 2nd Tomahawks goal came on the power-play continuing their recent strong special teams gameplan. The goal was picture-perfect for a power-play with three quick, effective passes. Hawks captain Dylan Shane started the play and picked up the secondary assist but the Hawks two upcoming NAHL Top Prospects – Adam Ondris and Caden Olenczak would cap it off in the blink of an eye to make it 2-0.
Jack Genovese clearly wanted to diminish the Black Bear’s chances at a comeback as he made it 3-0 just six-minutes after Ondris. The assists on the goal were credited to Dylan Shane (2) and Sam Blanton.
After an exciting 1st period the Hawks took a hearty 3-0 lead to the locker room, along with an 8-5 shot on goal advantage.
At this level of hockey there normally aren’t many teams that find themselves down by such a large margin after the 1st and don’t wind up making a strong push to get back in the game.
The Black Bears came right out of the gates with that push, hemming the Hawks in the defensive zone continuously but goaltender Zack Ferris was backing up his reigning NAHL East 3rd Star of the Week selection with another strong outing denying Maryland on several occasions.
Ultimately Maryland would break through with a right-side circle one-timer to make the score 3-1 just a few minutes prior to the halfway mark.
The Tomahawks 2nd period wasn’t a total disappointment though, despite surrendering the only goal of the period, subsequently cutting their lead to just two. Maryland definitely handled the majority of play and generated more scoring chances but with a 3-1 lead, the Hawks would really only need to capitalize on one or two more of their respective chances to make this one dormy.
After 40 minutes of play, the Tomahawks would head to intermission with the slightly cushioned 3-1 lead but after being outshout 15-3 in the frame, a strong 3rd period was going to have to be a high priority.
A huge 3rd period was in store for the Tomahawks, looking to close out the game against the East Division leader. Before the contest, the Tomahawks found themselves 14 points behind the Black Bears, sitting in 5th place.
It was another good start to a period for the trailing Black Bears, registering the first four shots and finding the back of the net making it 3-2 before the Tomahawks could even register a shot in the period.
The goal came on a Black Bears power-play after the third Tomahawks tripping penalty of the game, this one proving costly, making it a one-shot game with 15:00 to play.
After 10 minutes, it was still all Black Bears in the 3rd. It seemed as though the Tomahawks were on one long 10-minute shift in their defensive zone, as the Black Bears were on the hunt, cycling around the zone with ease.
It was becoming eerily clear that the next nine minutes were going to be an absolute battle. In all likelihood it was going to take continued heroics from Ferris to come out of this one victorious. After surviving the Black Bears onslaught, a Tomahawks chance appeared after a Maryland defensive zone blunder, leaving Nick White wide-open in front of the slot and he made no mistake burying the Nick Jarmain pass, as he overpowered the goaltender through the five-hole making it a 4-2 game with just under 4:00 to play.
There were no deep breaths to be had in those final four-minutes however, as the Black Bears crawled back once again making it a 4-3 game with just 120 seconds to play.
Finally deciding to put this one away, Nick White earned himself a hard-working empty net goal for his second of the night to finally give the Hawks some breathing room making it 5-3.
Final shots on goal for the contest totaled 44-19 in favor of the Maryland Black Bears.
Your Johnstown Tomahawks are back in Maryland tomorrow night to visit the Maryland Black Bears to try and gain another valuable two points in the East. Saturday night’s action will begin at 7:30PM. Get tickets for future home games 24/7 at www.johnstowntomahawks.com or by stopping in the Tomahawks main office. Can’t make it to the game? Catch all the action live at nahltv.com. Stay up to date with the Johnstown Tomahawks by following us along on social media.
BY: DREW P. PFEIL | drew@johnstowntomahawks.com