In a penalty filled affair, the New Jersey Titans fell to the Northeast Generals by a score of 5-2 on Friday night at the Middletown Sports Complex.
The first period saw a back and forth affair with the teams playing free flowing hockey. The Generals would find the back of the net at the 4:09 mark of the first period, and would outshoot the Titans 11-7.
The second period was marred by four simultaneous fights breaking out at the beginning of the period. After the penalties were sorted out, the Titans had four players ejected and played shorthanded for the next 14 minutes. With ample power play time, Northeast scored 4 times with the man advantage to take a 5-0 lead by the 7:41 mark of the period. Finally back to even strength with under six minutes to play in the period, the Titans were able to stop the bleeding and went into the second intermission trailing by the same score.
New Jersey came out fast to begin the third period, when Dominik Bartecko got the Titans on the board at the 2:43 mark of the period. Matej Teply and Dominick Rivelli assisted on the Mercyhurst commit’s 16th goal of the season. New Jersey scored again 1:38 later when Logan Renkowski went upstairs for his 5th of the season, assisted by Teply and Jack Hillier. The Titans continued to push forward, but Renkowski was stymied by the far post just minutes later. The Titans offense could not get any closer, falling to a 5-2 final.
With the loss, the Titans slide back into 6th place, trailing the Generals by a point for 5th. The teams will finish their weekend series tomorrow, Saturday the 17th, at 7:00pm. New Jersey will wear their military appreciation uniforms for the last time, before auctioning them off to raise money for the New Jersey National Guard Soldier and Family Readiness Group in honor of Gia Mazza, a local resident and volunteer firefighter currently deployed overseas with her unit. To bid on New Jersey’s game worn uniforms, follow this link.