The Tomahawks fall to the Titans in a 4-3, shootout loss in Middletown this Saturday night, their second loss of the weekend.
Tensions were high in the first period, with both teams hungry for a win. After a winning opening faceoff, we saw a lot of action between the Titans and the Tomahawks but not a lot of scoring. At 14:58 Brendan Clark was sent to the box, two minutes for charging putting the Titans in their first power play of the game. It took a while to get the score rolling, halfway through the first period the Tomahawks and Titans were still all tied up at zero. With 8:12 to go, Johnstown entered their first power play after a Cade Penney tripping penalty. However, it would be the Titans to score during the Johnstown advantage, with Stephen Wiley putting the Titans on the board, 1-0. The Tomahawks entered their second powerplay of the night after Brad Zona of New Jersey entered the box, two minutes for slashing. After a hard-fought battle, the Tomahawks couldn’t find the back of the net and the Titans kept the lead, 1-0 after the first 20 minutes.
Both teams came out of the locker room for an exciting second period of play in Middletown. The Titans saw some early power-play action resulting from an Anthony Mastromonica call for roughing. New Jersey was unsuccessful on the power play but shortly after the Titans extended their lead 2-0 in the second period. The Tomahawks responded with Will Margel netting his fifth goal of the season assisted by Brendan Clark and David Paluch putting Johnstown on the board. Tensions remained high in the second period where we saw some pushing and shoving from both sides of the ice. Johnstown’s, Ryan Poorman, and a set of two Titans were sent to the box. This lead, to Jay Ahearn’s power-play goal assisted by Brendan Clark and William Persson tying the game up, 2-2. With his 18th goal of the season, Ahearn leads the league in goals. Throughout the second period, Johnstown totaled 22 shots on goal, adding to their 22 shots in the first period. Making a total of 44 shots for the Tomahawks within the first two periods of play. Both teams would head back into the locker room all tied up at 2.
We saw some early on power-play action for the Tomahawks after Jake Larusso, which is called high-sticking. A lot of back-and-forth action between the Tomahawks and Titans and not much scoring until John Gelatt gave the Tomahawks the lead at 8:20. This unassisted goal tied Gelatt with fellow Tomahawk Jay Ahearn for the league leader in goals at 18 apiece. The energy continued to be high throughout the game between these rivals, resulting in penalties against Spencer Evans and Cade Penney, each leaving their teams short a man on the ice. The Tomahawks hung on to their lead until the final ten seconds of play when Stephen Willey tied the game up at 3. Heading into overtime, we saw some impressive saves by both goalies which, resulted in a shootout. The Titans came out on top over the Tomahawks with a final score of 4-3.
The Tomahawks will be back on the road again next weekend for a two-game series against divisional rival the Danbury Hat tricks. The games are scheduled for Friday, March 5th at 3:00 PM and Saturday, March 6th at 3:30 PM. As always, the games will be available on HockeyTV. Make sure to stay up to date with social media coverage and all things Johnstown Tomahawks by following us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.