Tomahawks Hit the Road to Take on Rochester with Backs against the Wall
NAHL Johnstown Tomahawks

Tomahawks Hit the Road to Take on Rochester with Backs against the Wall

Published on February 27, 2026 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Johnstown Tomahawks News Release


The Johnstown Tomahawks will get back on the road to take on the powerhouse Rochester Jr. Americans for the second to last road series of the regular season, before three straight home stands to begin March.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST SEASON

Just one month later and we're set for another weekend of East Division showdowns against the Rochester Jr. Americans, the team who ended our season last year. Over the last year or so, the Jr. Americans have certainly become one of the Tomahawks biggest rivals and every game seems to carry a playoff feel to it. Rochester is one of the newer teams to the North American Hockey League but you wouldn't know that by looking at their success through the organization's first few seasons. Through their first two full seasons and nearly their third, Rochester has an outstanding record of 108-44-5-11 in 168GP. The Tomahawks are in Year 13 and hold an all-time record of 440-291-41-36 in 811GP.

Last year the Tomahawks and Jr. Americans faced off six times just like every division foe, in which the Tomahawks won the season series comfortably winning four of the six games. Oddly enough, Rochester's wins both came in Johnstown and every series during the regular season was a sweep for whoever won the Friday night game. Rochester went on to win the East Division and were slated to be a tough out once the schedule turned to April. The Tomahawks did in fact meet up with the Jr. Americans in the playoffs after getting past New Jersey in Round 1. The series was an all-time classic in Tomahawks history, as the Tomahawks found themselves down 2-0 in the series after dropping the first two games in Rochester. Clearly the Tomahawks and their loyal fans believed in the storied notion that a playoff series is never truly in jeopardy until you lose a game on home ice as the Tomahawks rattled off back to back overtime wins to stun the Jr. Americans and push it to a series deciding Game Five back in New York. The Tomahawks were ultimately left with a sour taste in their mouths all summer after getting out to a 4-1 lead after two periods in Game 5 but ended up allowing Rochester to make one of the most impressive comebacks you'll ever see, winning the game 6-5 in OT and moving on.

OCT 18TH - 2-1 W IN JOHNSTOWN

OCT 19TH - 4-3 W IN JOHNSTOWN

DEC 6TH - 4-2 L IN JOHNSTOWN

DEC 7TH - 5-4 L IN JOHNSTOWN

MAR 28TH - 3-1 W AT ROCHESTER

MAR 29TH - 6-2 W AT ROCHESTER

PLAYOFFS* APR 18TH - 5-2 L AT ROCHESTER

PLAYOFFS* APR 19TH - 2-1 L AT ROCHESTER

PLAYOFFS* APR 25TH - 4-3 W IN JOHNSTOWN

PLAYOFFS* APR 26TH - 2-1 W IN JOHNSTOWN

PLAYOFFS* APR 28TH - 6-5 L AT ROCHESTER

2025-2026 SEASON SERIES SO FAR

OCT 10TH - 7-0 W AT ROCHESTER (1-0 JTN)

OCT 11TH - 12-3 L AT ROCHESTER (1-1)

JAN 23RD - 5-0 L IN JOHNSTOWN (2-1 ROC)

JAN 24TH - 3-2 SOL IN JOHNSTOWN (3-1 ROC)

FEB 27TH - TBD AT ROCHESTER

FEB 28TH - TBD AT ROCHESTER

2025-2026 KEYS TO THE MATCHUP

Tomahawks come into play losers of their last two games and eight of their last ten.

The Jr. Americans have been on an insane tear since their 12-3 victory against us in early October, winning 27 of their last 34 games.

The Tomahawks currently have the fifth lowest goals scored in the East with just 132 through 47 games.

The Jr. Americans have turned it on offensively, as they've scored 168 goals in 45 games and hold the second-highest goal-differential in the East with +55 (113GA)

Johnstown will enter the weekend for the first time without Adam Houli as Head Coach.

Geoff Beauparlant and Nick Mish will take the reins and try to will this team into the playoffs.

Johnstown is still led by their captain Nick Jarmain who remains firing above a pt/game pace through his first 47 games with 51pts (28G, 23A).

The Tomahawks sit five points out of a playoff spot with only 12 games to play.

Rochester is essentially playing for ideal playoff seeding, in a great spot at 2nd place.

The Jr. Americans are led by forward and recent Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) commit, Ryan Shaw who has put up quite the season, recording 67 points in 44 games (35G, 32A) tied for fourth in the NAHL.

Shaw is also the league's leading goal-scorer with 35, holding a three goal advantage on Luc Bydal (Anchorage)

GOALIE MATCHUP

JTN

Ferris: 8-15-4-2 | 3.18GAA | .898 SV%

Oleksiienko: 8-4-0-0 | 3.09GAA | .914 SV%

ROC

Carlstrom: 15-9-0-0 | 2.75GAA | .897 SV%

Wade: 11-3-0-0 | 2.15GAA | .921 SV%

BY: DREW P. PFEIL

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North American Hockey League Stories from February 27, 2026


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