Rookie goaltender Peyton Grainer got the shootout win in his NAHL debut Sunday afternoon as the Tomahawks faced off against the New Jersey Titans in Middletown.
The 1st period started off slow with not much action from either side. Halfway through the period New Jersey got called for too many men on the ice, but the Tomahawks did not convert on the power play. At the 17:41 mark of the period, Tomahawks forward Jared Gerger opened the scoring to give the Hawks the lead, going into the intermission ahead by 1.
The 2nd period started with a penalty to New Jersey’s Caleb Price, taking a hooking penalty just 42 seconds into the period. A few minutes later Jake LaRusso tied the game for the Tians with a goal from Connor Pelc. As the period went on, there were a few back and forth penalties to both squads, but the 2nd would eventually end tied at 1.
The Tomahawks came out hungry in the 3rd period, knowing they did not want to head back to Johnstown losing all three games for their weekend. Frustrations began to show as defenseman Ethan Webb took a tripping penalty. Middletown native John Gelatt would break through for the Tomahawks, getting his seventh goal of the season to regain the lead. It only took New Jersey’s LaRusso one minute to get his second goal of the game and tie the score back up at 2. Both sides would have a lot of good chances but could not find the back of the net to end the game in 60 minutes, forcing five minutes of sudden death overtime action.
The urgency we saw in the 3rd period carried into overtime as both teams were trying to get the win and end the game. Both goaltenders were on their game, making crucial saves. Because of this the game would advance to a shootout. Peyton Grainer was solid in net for the Tomahawks stopping all three shooters to get the big win for the Tomahawks.
The Tomahawks will travel to Maine to face off against the Nordiques this coming Thursday, December 4 at 7 PM and Friday, December 4 at 1 PM. The games will be available for fans to watch on HockeyTV.