The Johnstown Tomahawks defeated the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks Friday night by a final score of 2-1 in a game that went down to the final seconds.
The game was a battle between the netminders with Danbury’s Andrew Pichora and Johnstown’s Sam Evola only allowing 1 goal in the first two periods. Both teams kept firing pucks at the net, combining for 61 shots.
The Jr. Hat Tricks would strike first Friday night with a goal from Gabe Dombrowski 12:50 into the opening frame. Aside from the one goal in the period, the game opened with fast-paced and exciting play to keep things moving in the early stages.
The 2nd period brought more of the same kind of play. The first penalty of the game went to Johnstown’s Dusty Geregach, who was sent off for hooking. The Tomahawks killed off the penalty with ease and continued with the remainder of the period, which ended the same as the 1st.
The 3rd period opened with another penalty to Johnstown’s Ethan Webb, which was again killed off. 8:22 into the period, the Tomahawks finally found the back of the net with Drew Murphy scoring his eighth goal of the season. Two and a half minutes later, Danbury’s Steven Spetz got called for tripping to give the Tomahawks their first power play of the night. On the power play, Daniel Tkac netted the go-ahead goal for the Hawks to give them the lead with 7:30 to go in regulation. With 4:16 remaining, Reed Stark was called for a double-minor high sticking penalty, giving Danbury a power play for a majority of the remaining time in the 3rd period. The Tomahawks stuck to their game and strong penalty kill to successfully keep Danbury off the board in the dire final minutes to win 2-1.
The Tomahawks and Jr. Hat Tricks are back again tomorrow night for the second of three games for the weekend at 1ST SUMMIT ARENA at 7 PM. Get your tickets online at Ticketmaster or by calling/visiting the Tomahawks office.