Tomahawks Top Aston 4-1 in Preseason Finale
September 12, 2015 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Johnstown Tomahawks News Release
Greensburg, PA - The Johnstown Tomahawks made a strong statement with their final game of the preseason Saturday night, topping the visiting Aston Rebels 4-1 in front of a near-capacity crowd at Greensburg's Kirk S. Nevin Arena.
The game's first period continued the hard-hitting precedent set Friday night in the first game of the preseason series. Midway through the period, Johnstown's Drew Doyon unleashed a ferocious hit on Aston's Connor Wood, igniting the first brawl of the night between Doyon and Wood. Less than a minute later, Johnstown captain Logan Hudson tangled with Aston's Guy Roby in another fight following a collision behind the Johnstown net.
Scoring opened in the second period when Johnstown defenseman Jake Houston bounced a puck from the blue line towards Aston goalie Trevor Miccuci. Rookie forward Tiernan Seningen sped to the front of the net, collecting Houston's pass and sliding it past the goalie for a 1-0 Tomahawks lead at 4:53 of the second period.
The Rebels pulled even with a power play goal at 11:28 in the second, as Brennan Karcheck fluttered a puck over Johnstown goalie Andrei Tikhomirov's glove for the Russian netminder's only mistake of the night.
The Tomahawks soon reclaimed the lead at 14:00 in the second as Cameron Smith took a pass from Andrew Romano and snapped it past Miccuci for a 2-1 lead. That lead grew to 4-1 with two quick strikes midway through the final period. At 11:17, returning leading scorer Alex Alger deked Aston netminder for the 3-1 lead, with Jake Houston contributing his third assist of the night. A short 21 seconds later, Drew Doyon received a Dalton Hunter pass and snapped it into the net for the final score of the game. Hudson also assisted on the goal.
Tomahawks head coach Mike Letizia said he was pleased with the results of the final tune-up before next Friday's regular season opener -- especially after dropping a fight-filled exhibition game to the Rebels on Friday night.
"After last night, I expected this game to start with that same physicality. We play these guys 16 times this season, and we expect this time of game for each and every of those contests. Our guys did a good job sticking up for themselves and for each other. Once the game settled itself down, we started making some plays and were able to finish them off," he said.
The Tomahawks open the season on Sept. 18 at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights. The Johnstown home opener is set for Friday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m., when NHL legend Bobby Hull will be in attendance to meet with fans for photos and autographs. Season ticket packages are available by calling 814-536-4625. Single game tickets go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena box office or at Ticketmaster.com.
North American Hockey League Stories from September 12, 2015
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