NEW JERSEY – The Johnstown Tomahawks (2-0-0) completed the sweep of the New Jersey Titans (0-2-0) in the first round of the Robertson Cup Playoffs after defeating them by a score of 5-2 on Saturday night. Tomahawks captain Dylan Shane found the back of the net twice and Nick Avakyan proved his heroic ability once again to propel the Hawks into the 2nd Round.
The overall feel of the first period was different than yesterday, where the Tomahawks came out flying with a lot of jump in their game. That script basically flipped to begin Saturday evening, as the Titans were clearly the more prepared team. Proving that all the more, the Titans went on to score the first goal of the game after trapping the Hawks in their defensive zone for more than a minute. Nick Avakyan was unable to track the shot through all of the traffic in front of him and the Titans took the 1-0 lead.
Following the goal, the Tomahawks gathered some momentum and began to push back against the Titans attack. Through just 14-minutes it was easy to assume that the goals probably weren’t going to come as easy in this game as they did last night. Some more good chances kept coming to the Hawks, but after a near miss off the crossbar from Adam Csabi jolted some false hope into the crowd and the bench, the Hawks were sent to the sinbin to kill off a huge penalty. The strong penalty killing from the Tomahawks carried over from last night and they were able to escape the period just down one.
Shots on goal after the 1st were in favor of New Jersey like they were last night at 19-12.
The 2nd period got underway, and the Hawks were going to need the next goal to give themselves a good chance to win the game with the pressure New Jersey was putting on.
Through 10-minutes of the 2nd period, the game started to settle down and turn into more of a coin flip. Both teams were generating their fair share of opportunities, but the Hawks eventually got rewarded. New Jersey got sent to the box for the first time after a high-sticking penalty and the Hawks saw their window open up. After just 35 seconds on the powerplay, the Hawks drew another one and were on their way to a 5-on-3 advantage which was set to become the key turning point in the game whether the Hawks capitalized or not. With 20 seconds left in the first power-play, it was the captain Dylan Shane who would tie the game up for the Tomahawks with an Ovechkin-esque one-timer. With 7:00 to play there was still time on the man-advantage for the Hawks, but they ultimately came up empty.
After two periods of play, the Titans still carried their shot-on-goal edge into the 3rd with a tight 30-29 advantage.
The 3rd period of playoff games tends to be the most nail-biting and the first 15-minutes certainly lived up to that notion. The two teams played catch with the lead to begin the first four minutes after Nick Jarmain scored for the Tomahawks two-minutes in, after a net-front rebound emerged off an Andrew Cowgill point shot. New Jersey answered right back yet again with 4-minutes gone by in the 3rd to tie the game at 2-2. The next 10-minutes went on with an energetic but nervous style, as neither team wanted to surrender the next goal.
With just under seven minutes to play in the game, it was once again the Tomahawks captain, Dylan Shane who would grab the 3-2 lead for the Hawks with his second goal of the game to electrify his bench and the traveling Tomahawks fans. Shane buried a juicy rebound chance off of a Cullen Emery shot for the tally. Following the Shane goal, the Hawks looked to another veteran presence in Hank Reed, as he buried a mini breakaway after a nice Jack Genovese pass to make it 4-2 and creep some doubt into the Titans just a little bit. The celebration was officially on after the Reed goal, as the clock winded down towards zeroes. Nick White sealed things up with help from Hank Reed and sent the Tomahawks firmly into the 2nd round with an empty netter with just 18 seconds to play, making it 5-2.
Final shots on goal for the contest were in favor of New Jersey 45-43.
We’re onto the SECOND ROUND! Stay tuned into all of our social media pages for what’s in store next for your Johnstown Tomahawks! We WILL be hosting atleast one home playoff game! Secure your tickets anytime at www.johnstowntomahawks.com or visit the Tomahawks Main Office, open Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 4 PM. If you can’t make it to the game, catch all the action live on NATV.COM. Stay connected with your Johnstown Tomahawks by following us on social media @tomahawkshockey.
BY: DREW P. PFEIL | drew@johnstowntomahawks.com