JOHNSTOWN – The Tomahawks defeated the Rochester Jr. Americans by a score of 4-3 on Saturday evening at 1st Summit Arena to earn their first weekend sweep of the season.
Looking to keep their momentum rolling from Friday, the Tomahawks clearly had a game plan to come out and get on the board first. However, Rochester would continue to play their best hockey in the first periods of games and found themselves on the right side of the first goal of the game once again with a goal from Adam Gionta for the second night in a row. The Tomahawks wasted little time getting themselves back into the game as forward Adam Ondris would find the back of the net with a seeing eye wrister from the high slot on just their second shot on goal of the game. The remainder of the period would end up being controlled mostly by Rochester, taking a 12-4 shot advantage into the locker room but the score remained tied at 1-1.
The second period was just about as thrilling as the sport of hockey could get, as four goals were put on the board and big saves were made by both goaltenders. Tomahawks defenseman Caden Olenczak started the scoring frenzy at the 6:00 minute mark with an assist from Ryan Flaherty. Within the next five minutes of action, the Tomahawks would strike twice more with goals from Taybor Aldrich (Olenczak, Ondris) and Jack Genovese (Shane) scoring his first career NAHL goal, giving the Hawks a commanding 4-1 lead halfway through the frame. Rochester opted to keep this one interesting with a goal of their own from Wyatt Stefan with 7:00 remaining in the period to cut the lead to 2 after 40 minutes.
To begin the 3rd period, the Tomahawks played with urgency trying to add to their lead with several good scoring opportunities but couldn’t find the back of the net. Rochester would add a 3rd goal at the 3:00 minute mark to make things rather interesting. As was the case with Friday’s game, Rochester found themselves behind with not a lot of time on their side and started to press hard against the Tomahawks to earn the tying goal but after several key stops from goaltender Zack Ferris and strong defensive plays, the Hawks survived and finished the job, earning the 4-3 win to complete the weekend sweep.
Your Tomahawks will look to string together more wins next weekend as they visit the New Jersey Titans for a weekend series starting Friday, October 25th at 7:30PM. Fans can get their tickets now for any upcoming home games at www.johnstowntomahawks.com or by stopping in the Tomahawks main office. Can’t make it to the game? Catch all the action live on NATV (nahltv.com.) As always, stay up to date with all things Johnstown Tomahawks by following us on our social media channels!
By DREW P. PFEIL | drew@johnstowntomahawks.com