PHILADELPHIA – The Johnstown Tomahawks fell to the Phiadelphia Rebels 5-2 Sunday evening at the Class of 1923 Arena.
Five minutes into the first period, Rebels defenseman Diarmad Dimurro gave Philadelphia a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal. Jensen Zerban and Aaron Maguyon assisted on the goal.
Philadelphia added to their lead at 9:53 of the opening frame as Adam Peck finished a loose puck behind Tomahawks goalie Vinnie Purpura.
In the second period, the Rebels continued their momentum with a goal from defenseman Justin Smith at 6:33, moving the lead to 3-0.
Rebels forward Jon Bendorf increased the Rebels to 4-0 and chased Purpura from the cage 10 minutes into the second period.
Purpura was replaced by back-up Jack Faulkner who surrendered a goal at 15:15 of the second period off the stick of Carter Woolley on the power play. Woolley’s goal was assisted by Peck and Auggie Moore and increased the Rebels lead to 5-0.
Johnstown would finally solve Rebels netminder Eli Billing 26 seconds later with a goal from forward Ben Schmidling. Nic Azarovitz and David Schmidling assisted on the marker.
The Tomahawks added another goal late in the third period to cut the Rebels lead to 5-2 with a goal from Andrew Andary. Andary’s second of the season was assisted by Joey Baez and Hunter Carrick.
The Tomahawks remain on the road starting Friday, Oct.6 to begin a three-game series with the Northeast Generals. Johnstown opens the 2017-18 home portion of their schedule on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. at 1st Summit Arena @ Cambria County War Memorial. October 14 is Hawktoberfest Opening Night presented by 1st Summit Bank, which begins at 5 p.m. Individual tickets are now available by calling 1-800-745-3000 or visiting the 1st Summit Arena box office.