ROCHESTER – The Johnstown Tomahawks were defeated by the Rochester Jr. Americans by a score of 6-5 in Overtime on Monday, April 28th in Rochester, New York.
The do-or-die game five got off to a blistering start with both teams trading excellent chances within the first-five minutes, going without a whistle since the original puck drop.
The Tomahawks seemed to have carried a good bit of their momentum from the back-to-back home-ice survival efforts just a few days prior. Through 10-minutes it was hard to decipher who the better team was because the hockey was being played at such a high level. It seemed like we were destined for a scoreless first period with just over two-minutes left to play, but with 2:03 on the clock the Jr. Americans found themselves on the right side of some puck-luck and their leading scorer Calle Karlsson notched his 4th of the series for the first goal of the game to make it 1-0 Rochester. One of the biggest factors in any hockey playoff series-in any league, is how a team chooses to respond after giving up the first goal in a win or go home game. The Tomahawks had just two-minutes remaining to answer back if they were going to in the first period, and they did just that scoring just nine-seconds after the Jr. Americans to even it back up 1-1. The Tomahawks goal came from one of their biggest sparkplugs all season long in Jack Genovese who lived up to that notion by crashing the net and burying a rebound into the open net for his first of the playoffs. The assists were given to Dylan Shane and Hank Reed.
The period finished off with almost the same pace as we began with, as both teams continued to put pressure on the other. The shots on goal total favored the Tomahawks after the 1st with an 11-6 advantage.
As the 2nd period began, the Tomahawks kept their foot on the gas scoring again just two-minutes into the period after Ryan Flaherty put one home from Sam Blanton to give the Hawks the all-important 2-1 lead early in the 2nd period. It would’ve been easy for the Hawks to just settle down and play good defense to preserve the lead, but with 28-minutes left to play in a one-goal game with stakes as high as this one, the only option was to continue playing the style that got them there. Nick Avakyan was steady in the blue paint after the second Hawks’ goal to maintain the lead as he made the saves he was supposed to make. With 12:00 to play in the 2nd, the Tomahawks found themselves with the first power-play opportunity of the game after a Rochester roughing call. At this point in a one-goal playoff game, it’s likely that you either capitalize on your power-play, or your opponent gets a heap of momentum from the penalty-kill. Thankfully for the Tomahawks, they went with option A, scoring on the power-play with a cleanup from Tate Pecknold to extend the Hawks’ lead to 3-1. Charlie Zetterkvist notched his first assist of the playoffs on the play while Sam Blanton registered his second of the game and fourth assist of the playoffs on the play.
It was clear to see the momentum was snowballing in the Tomahawks favor after the 3rd goal because the game had no feeling that the score was a result of luck. The Tomahawks have been on the attack since the opening drop of the puck. The continuous pressure from the Hawks’ continued but the Rochester goaltender was doing his best to keep his team in it as we approached the midway point of the period. With just 3:25 remaining in the 2nd, Adam Ondris tripled the Hawks lead making it 4-1 with a beautiful one-timer from the right circle after a slick Adam Csabi pass. Dylan Shane also recorded an assist on the play for his second of the game and team leading 7th of the postseason.
The Hawks took full control of the game after 40-minutes, holding the 4-1 lead along with a 22-11 shot-on-goal advantage.
The final 20-minutes were not going to be easy for the Hawks’, but it definitely had to be a good feeling being up three goals. It’s situations like these that really battle test a team and show a glimpse of what they are fully capable of. Playing with pressure is one of the hardest things to do in the sport, which is why playing with any lead, let alone a three-goal lead, comes with unimaginable nerves. The Jr. Americans had nothing more to lose at the start of the period, and they certainly showed it. Rochester went on to stun the Tomahawks with two-goals in just 40 seconds to begin the final frame making it a nail-biting one-goal game with an eternity to play with the clock reading 16:46. After surrendering the huge lead, the Hawks found themselves in a bit of a panic. Luckily, just two-minutes after Rochester scored, they were nabbed for roughing and sent the red-hot Tomahawks power-play back to work. Once again it was Tate Pecknold scoring on the man-advantage for the Hawks, to grab the two-goal lead right back making it 5-3 with a Lukas Klemm assist.
The back-and-forth action kept going though, as Rochester made it a one-goal game again at 5-4 with just under half of the period to play. It was clear that the pressure of preserving the lead was getting under the Tomahawks skin as the time continued to tick off the clock. As a spectator, you would’ve thought you were on the ice during the final stages because of how tense the action was getting. The home team Jr. Americans used every bit of that advantage as they doggedly worked to tie the game and eventually after a tip in front of Nick Avakyan, the game was tied for the second time at 5-5 and sent this one to sudden-death overtime for the third straight game to decide who would move on to the East Division Final.
After the 3rd period, the shots were still in favor of Johnstown at 26-22.
The overtime period got off to a pace that seemed slower than the first 60-minutes, but the teams still traded a few opportunities with their respective seasons on the line. At the 16:00 mark of the first overtime it was Jr. Americans’ forward Jaden Dyke who would complete the improbable comeback after a juicy rebound found its way onto his stick to win the game in overtime to end the Tomahawks season in heartbreaking fashion.
It was quite the run from your Johnstown Tomahawks in the 2025 Robertson Cup Playoffs, which ended with three thrilling overtime games in a row, one in double overtime. After responding with the two overtime victories at home after facing elimination for the last week, it was going to be a tough ask to pull out a third straight OT win, especially this time on Rochester ice.
The final score of Monday night’s playoff finale from Rochester was 6-5 Jr. Americans in Overtime. The final shots on goal for the contest read 27-23 in favor of Johnstown. Thank you to the greatest fans in the NAHL for your continued support all season! We couldn’t do any of it without you. See you next season! LET’S GO HAWKS.
BY: DREW P. PFEIL | drew@johnstowntomahawks.com