Weekend Preview: Garden State of Mind

Mar 9, 2018

Your Johnstown Tomahawks are back on the road this weekend as they take on the New Jersey Titans on Friday, March 9, Saturday, March 10 and Sunday, March 11 at Middletown Ice World in Middletown, NJ.

This is the first time the two teams have played each other since December 1-3 with Johnstown taking two of three games at 1st SUMMIT ARENA @ Cambria County War Memorial. The teams will meet again for the third and final time this season in two weeks when Johnstown returns to New Jersey after a home series against the Northeast Generals.

Roman Kraemer looks to build off his performance in the Top Prospects Tournament last week, where he notched three points (one goal and two assists) in two games for the East.

Carson Briere aims to get back on the scoresheet, not scoring a point in his last six games after scoring five points (three goals and two assists) in the previous four.

The New Jersey Titans are currently in second place in the East Division with 54 points. They are coming off a weekend split against the Philadelphia Rebels last Friday and Saturday.

The Tomahawks will have to keep an eye on forwards Nick Boyagian (17 goals and 18 assists) and Hunter Alden (eight goals and 27 assists), who both lead the Titans with 35 points.

Goalies Brandon Perrone and Matt Ladd look to be the starters for this weekend. In 28 games played, Perrone posts a 14-7-3-2 record, a 2.46 goals against average and a .932 save percentage. Ladd has a 9-8-1-0 record, a 2.67 goals against average and a .908 save percentage in 19 games played.


Player Spotlight: Jack Leavy

With his netminding-tandem partner Kade Phipps battling an injury, Jack Leavy has been holding his own, riding a three-game point streak into the Tomahawks’ weekend series against the New Jersey Titans.  His streak began on February 17, where the Hawks fell 3-2 in a shootout against the Kenai River Brown Bears in Alaska while stopping 37 of 39 shots.

Leavy continued his streak in the Tomahawks’ past weekend series in late February against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, guiding Johnstown to 4-1 and 3-2 wins and stopping 32 of 33 and 35 of 37 shots, respectively.

Leavy’s stellar play did not go unnoticed.  He earned third and first star honors, respectively in the Hawks’ 4-1 and 3-2 victories.  In addition, Leavy earned the NAHL’s East Division Bauer Star of the Week for the week of February 26.

On the year, Leavy holds a 7-8-1-1 record and a .911 save percentage, with five of his victories earned in a Tomahawks uniform, with two of them coming as a Philadelphia Rebel earlier in this season before his eventual acquisition by Johnstown from the Minnesota Wilderness in October.