JOHNSTOWN —
With a two-game road series beginning tonight for the surging Johnstown Tomahawks against struggling Fresno, players spent the last couple days of a lengthy road trip preparing.
On Tuesday, the Tomahawks went bowling.
A day later, they went to the movies to watch “Skyfall” – the latest in the James Bond franchise.
Sure, Johnstown spent practice time on the ice, but, according to coach Jason Spence, activities like bowling and movies are as important to the Tomahawks’ recent success as anything else.
“Sometimes the road is good for a team. They’ve come together. They’re a real tight group,” Spence said Thursday, just minutes after the team concluded its movie night. “The players, they know each other and trust each other. They’re going hard and they’ve bought into what we’re doing.”
What Johnstown is doing of late is winning, and in bunches.
The Tomahawks (12-7-6, 30 points) have made a steady climb back into contention in the North Division of the North American Hockey League.
The fourth-place Tomahawks – a team that struggled on the road early in the season – take a 5-4-4 road record into tonight’s game at Fresno (6-13-3, 15 points), the last-place team in the West Division.
“Fresno has a lot of skill, a lot of good players,” Spence said. “It’s a really good team. We can’t take them lightly.”
Among the players on the Monsters roster is Brandon Broissot, a former Tomahawks forward.
Johnstown’s roster has seen several different faces added in recent weeks. All the fresh faces came in before the recent six-game road trip, which has included a four-game stay on the West Coast.
“When you’re on the road, there’s no way around it, you have to get to know each other,” Spence said. “You eat all your meals together. We all went to the theater. We went bowling. It’s been a real bonding experience.”
The trip started with a weekend sweep of Jamestown – the first-place team in the North – on Nov. 24-25.
“That was huge. It was real big to come off wins at the first-place team in our division and one of the best teams in the league,” Spence added. “Then we went to Wenatachee (Wash.) and showed how we could compete against one of the best teams in the west. The second game there, we couldn’t find the net but we put together two really good games.”
Cody Gylling leads the Tomahawks with 20 points (six goals, 14 assists). Captain Mitch Kontny has a team-high 12 goals and Brandon Reinholz has 11. Goalie Chris Truehl has played in 14 games and has a 2.46 goals against average.
“We have to make sure we take care of the puck,” Spence said. “There’s a checklist of things to go over before we’re really satisfied with how they’re playing. Right now, we’re trying to get better every day.”
Tomahawks
Tomahawks taking the road to success
- Tomahawks
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Tomahawks draft five players
Team Illinois forward Casey Linkenheld topped a group of five players drafted by the Johnstown Tomahawks in the NAHL Draft on Tuesday.
The Tomahawks also drafted goaltender Brett Young (Little Caesars U18), forward Forest Donvan (Belle Tire U18), defenseman Tristan Ramage (Pittsburgh Viper Stars) and blue-liner Brady Bender (Colorado Rampage). -
MAKING AN IMPACT | Tomahawks’ first season helps business, community
The Johnstown Tomahawks filled a void for the city’s hockey-starved fans while also pumping a boost into the region’s economy during their inaugural North American Hockey League season.
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Despite playoff loss, first Tomahawks season successful
The Johnstown Towmahawks’ inaugural season opened with an overtime loss at Port Huron and ended with a gutwrenching overtime setback to the Fighting Falcons Sunday at Cambria County War Memorial Arena.
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IT'S A WRAP | Miller’s overtime goal ends Tomahawks’ inaugural season
The result of Sunday’s NAHL Robertson Cup Playoff game wasn’t the one that the Johnstown Tomahawks wanted. Port Huron’s Ian Miller made sure of that just 3:28 into overtime.
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MIKE KOVAK | Another stinging playoff setback
Before the puck dropped Sunday afternoon, the Olympia ice resurfacer crashed into the boards and a linesman lost his balance on his way to the ice at Cambria County War Memorial Arena.
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Tomahawks confident as Game 3 approaches
The Johnstown Tomahawks played winning hockey on the road throughout the 2012-13 NAHL season, but that fact did little to quell the team’s collective apprehension as it headed into Game 2 of the North Division play-in series Friday night at Port Huron.
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Tomahawks force deciding Game 3
The Johnstown Tomahawks will get at least one more game.
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Tomahawks shut out in playoff opener
A trio of third-period goals proved too much for the Johnstown Tomahawks to match as the Port Huron Fighting Falcons took Game 1 of the NAHL’s Robertson Cup North Division Play-in series by a 3-0 tally Thursday at McMorran Arena.
The Fighting Falcons, the North Division’s fourth seed, used goals from Ryan Nick, Mitch Maloney and Rick DeRosa to grab a 1-0 lead in the best-of-3 series. -
Tomahawks planning on short series
No offense hockey fans, but the Johnstown Tomahawks aren’t planning to play a home game in front of a potentially sold-out, sure-to-be-raucous crowd Sunday afternoon at Cambria County War Memorial Arena.
The goal for these Tomahawks, who qualified for the NAHL playoffs in their inaugural season in the Flood City, is to win two games at Port Huron (Mich.) starting tonight and advance in the best-of-3 North Division play-in series. -
Johnstown to open playoffs at Port Huron
If the Johnstown Tomahawks are looking to bring postseason hockey back to Cambria County War Memorial, they’ll have to at the very least forge a split of the first two games of their best-of-3 play-in series against fourth-place Port Huron.
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