The Johnstown Tomahawks (4-1-1) defeated the St. Cloud Norsemen (2-1-1) by a score of 4-3 in regulation time on Friday, September 26th night in Blaine, Minnesota to wrap up day two of the NAHL Showcase. Emerson Marshall led the way for the Hawks once again with two goals and an assist, Nick Jarmain also chipped in with two more goals of his own, to bring both players to an incredible seven goals in six games each on the young season. The Tomahawks were backstopped between the pipes by rookie goaltender Nikita Oleksiienko who made his first career NAHL start and picked up the victory, turning aside 27/30 shots.
The Johnstown Tomahawks were looking to rebound on Friday night after another positive comeback effort on Thursday. However, the Norsemen found themselves on a breakaway just 10 seconds in with a lapse in defensive positioning right away for the Hawks. Nikita Oleksiienko was in net for the Tomahawks for his first career NAHL start and he made the good early save to calm his team down 15 seconds into the game. Through just about five-minutes, the game was played at more of a frenetic pace with not a lot of time or space to get any shots off.
One of the Tomahawks few shots early on, actually sent us to a short break in the action as it caught the Norsemen goalie up high and drew some blood. Just seconds after the five-minute delay, the Norsemen struck first, getting the puck to the blue paint and a hardworking goal was the result. One of the most common themes of the Tomahawks season through six games, has been their ability to answer right back after giving up a goal. It was no different here as Tomahawks captain Nick Jarmain buried a rebound for his league-leading 6th goal of the season. The assist on the goal was to Liam Bazner. A lot of momentum began to swing in the way of the Tomahawks after the goal as they started to string together a lot of quality shifts, spending a lot of time in the St. Cloud zone. Although they’ve become pretty accustomed to climbing back in games this season, it was important for the Tomahawks to get the next goal. Oleksiienko wasn’t tested all that often through the first 15 minutes but when he was, he was steady. The remainder of the period played out with little action as we went to the break all nodded up at 1-1. Shots after the 1st period were in the Tomahawks favor at 14-5.
A couple of minutes ticked by in the 2nd period with more steady play in both ends but as compared to yesterday’s game, way less in the way of scoring opportunities. Also, a stark contrast from last night’s 10 total penalties called, the game’s first penalty didn’t come until we were nearly 30 minutes in, and it went in St. Cloud’s favor. It didn’t take more than 10 seconds and the Norsemen capitalized on the man-advantage and it was 2-1. Once again, in classic Tomahawks fashion, twenty seconds later they answered right back to tie the game at 2-2. Emerson Marshall was the goal scorer and through five periods in Blaine, he’s been responsible for four of the five Tomahawks goals. Proving himself to be a key offensive contributor and certainly a name to keep an eye on for the remainder of the season. The second, minute-long goal blip on this game’s rather neutral paced radar came and went, then it was back to more track meet hockey. It seemed like each team would grab the momentum for a short couple of moments and then pass it right back to the other team to get their own couple of chances.
The Hawks began the 3rd period on their 3rd powerplay of the game, and they found themselves in a great spot to take the lead. Unable to generate much of anything, they were stymied keeping the game tied at 2-2. Just seconds after the powerplay expired, the Tomahawks did end up finding the back of the net, and it was again Captain Jarmain who found the back of the net giving his team the 3-2 lead. You could feel the game start to finally teeter enough to the Tomahawks side, to a point where they would likely come out victorious. Sometimes the best competition is internal competition, and I like to think that’s what Nick Jarmain and Emerson Marshall have going on right now. Emerson Marshall grabbed his second and doubled the lead just a minute after Jarmain’s second, giving the Hawks a commanding 4-2 lead with just over half a period left to play. The two linemates were responsible for all four Tomahawks goals on Friday, almost singlehandedly taking down the Norsemen. Marshall currently is riding a 4-game goal scoring streak where he has 7-goals in that span and has 5 of the Tomahawks’ last 11 total goals. Things started to get a little tense down the stretch as St. Cloud got themselves another rebound goal to cut the late lead to just one at 4-3, with about eight-minutes to play. Tomahawks goaltender Nikita Oleksiienko did his part towards the end to keep things steady while trying to preserve the lead and secure his first NAHL victory. Although the Hawks were up just a goal, the Norsemen kept killing their chances of tying the game as they sent the Tomahawks to their 5th and 6th powerplays of the night which basically milked the remainder of the clock, giving the Tomahawks the strong 4-3 win. Final shots for the game were in favor of Johnstown at 32-30.
Your Johnstown Tomahawks are back in action tomorrow morning as we take on the Wisconsin Windigo for our third and final game of the annual NAHL Showcase in Blaine, Minnesota. Saturday morning’s action kicks off at 9:00AM CT | 10:00AM ET. Catch all the action at https://nahltv.com/ and follow our social media accounts @tomahawkshockey so you don’t miss a beat!
BY: DREW P. PFEIL