JOHNSTOWN —
The Johnstown Tomahawks have been working overtime, but the NAHL team hasn’t had many big pay days after the extra sessions.
The Tomahawks held the lead twice during Friday night’s game against Port Huron at Cambria County War Memorial Arena.
But the Fighting Falcons answered each goal and forced overtime in front of 2,086 fans.
As has been the case throughout much of the season, the Tomahawks couldn’t get over the OT hump as Port Huron won, 3-2, in a shootout.
“You’ve got to do all the little things for 60 minutes,” Tomahawks coach Jason Spence said after his team lost their fifth straight game (0-2-3). “Some of the little things, we lost some of those battles.”
Three times in the recent slump, Johnstown lost in shootouts. In two of those shootouts at home, the ’Hawks failed to register a shootout goal.
“We work on the shootout every week,” Spence said.
“It’s one thing we have to get better at.”
The Tomahawks are 3-9 in overtime games, with a 2-5 mark in shootouts.
“I think we just need to bear down on our chances,” said new Johnstown defenseman Mitch Hall, acquired in a trade with Jamestown on Wednesday. “We outshot them. I felt like we outworked them. When the puck was around the crease, we just weren’t there. I think if we bear down, we’ll get them (tonight).”
The Tomahawks and Fighting Falcons (17-19-3) will play a rematch tonight at 7p.m. at the War Memorial. Johnstown closes the weekend with a Sunday afternoon home game against Soo (1 p.m.).
“We want to continue to get better and we’re trying to make moves to give us a better team,” said Spence, whose squad also traded for Westmont product Corey Schafer and added 6-foot-3 defenseman Dakoda Menslagle, 17.
Johnstown defenseman Casey Nelson netted his eighth goal of the season 3:51 into the game.
The Tomahawks skated with the lead most of the first period until Easton Powers scored at 16:39.
Neither team found the net in the second period, but Johnstown’s Zach Wallace scored at 5:55 of the third to make it 2-1.
Less than five minutes later, Port Huron’s Ian Miller tallied to tie the game. Miller leads the Falcons with 25 points and has two goals and four points in five games against Johnstown.
“We’ve got to be better in the defensive zone,” Tomahawks forward Brandon Reinholz said. “We shouldn’t have got there (to a shootout). We’ll come back (tonight).”
Johnstown had the game’s first five power plays, and Port Huron had only one abbreviated man advantage.
But the ’Hawks went 0-for-5 with the extra skater.
Johnstown still is solid overall, converting 36 of 195 power-play opportunities (18.5 percent).
“We didn’t capitalize on the power play,” Spence said. “Pucks seem to be bouncing the wrong way for us and we’ve got to correct that.”
Tomahawks
Related Photos
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Johnstown forward Mitch Kontny reacts after being hit in the mouth with a stick by Port Huron’s Mitch Maloney during Friday’s game. (John Rucosky/The Tribune-Democrat) John Rucosky
Discussion
Tomahawks lose in SO for third time in five games
- Tomahawks
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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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Loss drops Johnstown to fifth seed in playoffs
The Johnstown Tomahawks fell 2-1 to the Jamestown Ironmen and finished in the No. 5 spot in the NAHL’s North Division on Saturday.
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