ELMIRA – The Johnstown Tomahawks (16-14-6) were defeated by the Elmira Aviators (13-17-6) by a dominant score of 5-1 on their own home ice on January 16th in Elmira, New York. The Tomahawks played a really solid opening period on the road, treading water just enough that the score remained 0-0, despite surrendering a ton of chances in their own d-zone. Hawks’ veteran goaltender Zack Ferris was outstanding in the opening frame keeping the puck out of his net and allowing his team to stay in the game entering the second period. Elmira would eventually go on to score the game’s first two goals. The lone Tomahawks goal on the night was off the stick of assistant captain Jack Genovese. Elmira would go on to add three more goals in the third for the commanding victory, bringing them closer to the heels of the Tomahawks in the East Division.
Despite coming out victorious at the end of last weekend, there still didn’t seem to be a great feeling surrounding the Hawks’ game as of late. Coming into a matchup with an eight-point cushion on your opponent, the hungry team usually has a strong chance of surprising you early. Although they didn’t score in the first frame, Elmira was all over the Tomahawks and forced them to play a ton of defense. After failing to score on the game’s first power play chance just three minutes into the game, the Tomahawks then took four-straight penalties over the final 12-minutes, including a 5-on-3 chance for an entire minute, giving the Aviators prime opportunity to take the lead early. However, the Hawks’ PK and goaltender Ferris were up to the task, turning aside everything and surviving into the first break. Shots after the late Elmira push to end the period were in their favor at a dominant 15-6.
Elmira opened up the second period still carrying all of the momentum they earned in the first, as they scored just three-minutes in, to grab the 1-0 lead. Hawks’ forward Pete Morris took exception following the goal and decided to respond for his team by dropping the gloves with an Aviator, giving some life to not only the crowd, but both benches with still over half the game left to be played. As time began to tick off, the next goal became even more important and unfortunately it was Elmira finding the back of the net once again after forcing a turnover right along the Tomahawks defensive blue line and snuck one through the arm of Ferris to grab the 2-0 lead. Following the goal, there was still just under half the game left and after last weekend, the Hawks’ have proven to be willing to battle back. However, Friday night in Elmira just had a different feel to it and any form of a spark from Johnstown was going to be required and quickly. Right on cue, with just under two minutes to play in the period, Jack Genovese used his leadership and energetic play-style to get the Hawks’ on the board with a grinder-like wrap-around goal to cut the lead to 2-1. The goal would end up taking us to the second intermission down just a goal and gotten the Hawks’ right back into the shots on goal bout as well. However, shots after two were still in favor of Elmira at 28-22.
Hockey is a strange and sometimes inexplicable sport. After what seemed like a turning point in the game with the Genovese goal to end the second, the Hawks found themselves in a pretty good spot as they took the ice for the third. The rollercoaster of emotions that the game can produce certainly showed itself in the early stages of the period as Elmira found a golden opportunity off a blocked shot that was robbed blind by Zack Ferris with the paddle in full desperation mode. Getting a big save like that in a moment like that, tends to lead to some momentum on your side, but it just didn’t have the chance to facilitate as off the ensuing face-off, a set play that found its way on the tape of Matt Maglio was wired past a screened Ferris making it 3-1. The pendulum began to fully swing towards the Aviators following their third goal as just under a minute later they struck again with another shot from 40+ feet that Ferris was also unable to get eyes on. All of a sudden, we had a 4-1 game and the feeling on the Tomahawks side was definitely not an optimistic one. At the midway mark of the period, the Tomahawks took two penalties in a span of about 45 seconds putting the Aviators on a 5-on-3 man-advantage. With the way things were going, it was to nobody’s surprise that it took just seven seconds for them to find twine again to make it 5-1, all but putting this one away. The Tomahawks did get a chance at an extended 5-on-3 inside the last two minutes as well with an opportunity to take something positive into tomorrow’s matchup but as was the case all night, Elmira’s PK stymied all we had to offer. Aiden McKenna was solid for the Aviators, making everything look pretty routine, despite some more athletic saves earlier on. Final shots on goal for the game were in favor of Elmira at 38-25.