The Johnstown Tomahawks will finally wrap up their long three week road trip this weekend as they head to the city of brotherly love to face off with the Philadelphia Rebels for the first time this season. Puck drop for Friday evening’s showdown will take place at 7:30PM and Saturday’s action will also kick off at 7:30PM
A LOOK BACK AT LAST SEASON
The Rebels have had quite the history in the NAHL with four different city name changes since the 2015 season. From 2015-17, the team was known as the Aston Rebels. Then there was a solo season with the introduction of the Philadelphia Rebels. However, the initial “Philadelphia” season was short-lived as they were changed to the Jamestown Rebels for the next four years until 2022. After all, the Rebels have made their way back to Philly and have been known as the “Philadelphia Rebels” once again to present day, since the 2022-23 season. Through the last three full seasons, the Philadelphia Rebels hold a 79-90-10 record. They’ve recorded exactly 30 regulation losses in all three seasons for a bit of a strange stat. The Tomahawks will finally move on from their early season run through the East Division gauntlet (Maryland x2, Maine) as they will face the Rebels who sit towards the bottom of the division. However, the Hawks only find themselves five points ahead of the Rebels before this weekend’s matchups. Although the matchup will favor the Tomahawks in comparison to the last couple of weeks, there is never going to be an easy night in the NAHL and the parity of the league seems to be higher than ever before.
Last year the Tomahawks and Rebels faced off six times, which is standard for most in-division matchups. The Tomahawks weren’t very successful versus the sub-.500 Philadelphia team last season losing the season series 4-2. The first four games were played in Philadelphia while the last two were inside the 1ST SUMMIT ARENA in Johnstown. Despite the 4-2 series loss, the Tomahawks were definitely not outplayed entirely. Each of the six games was extremely tight with the largest margin of victory coming at just two goals. The last three games of the series were just one goal games, with one finishing in a shootout. The Tomahawks did wrap the series on a positive note however, winning 4-3 on home ice.
SEP 20TH – 3-1 L IN PHILADELPHIA
SEP 21TH – 5-3 L IN PHILADELPHIA
JAN 17TH – 6-4 L IN PHILADELPHIA
JAN 18TH – 3-2 W IN PHILADELPHIA
FEB 14TH – 2-1 SOL IN JOHNSTOWN
FEB 15TH – 4-3 W IN JOHNSTOWN
REBELS WIN SERIES FOUR GAMES TO TWO
2025-2026 KEYS TO THE MATCHUP
- Tomahawks first year Head Coach Adam Houli will look to continue the team’s second extended point streak of the season after grabbing points in back-to-back games. (1OTL, 1 W)
- The Rebels are off to a bit of a shaky start with a 6-11-2 record.
- After a historic start to the season – which feels like an eternity ago, The Tomahawks are still in a decent position but will look to take advantage of a team who’s been struggling as of late, losers of two straight.
- The Tomahawks have been relatively top heavy in terms of scoring prowess this season with three to four players in the mix for league scoring leaders.
- The Rebels have just one player inside the league’s top 50 scorers with Johnny Conlin who sits at #46 with 7G, 8A for 15P in 15 games played.
No surprise, we’ve got another important weekend for the East Division standings as some big swings could take place with certain results. A sweep of the Rebels would be exactly what the doctor ordered for the Tomahawks so we will start with mission one on Friday night!
FALL INTO HOCKEY BOGO OFFER – UPCOMING HOME GAMES
- Buy two tickets for the price of one during the Fall months! *All seats available aside from glass seating*
11.14 – 7:30PM
11.15 – 7:00PM
11.21 – 7:30PM
11.21 – 7:00PM
https://www.gofevo.com/group/FallOffer25
BY: DREW P. PFEIL