The first place Titans travel to Johnstown this weekend to play two important games against the second place Tomahawks. This will be the first of two straight weekends that the teams will face each other. The first two games will be played at 1st Summit Arena at Cambria County War Memorial on Friday at 7:30 PM and Saturday at 7:00 PM.
Games three and four of this four game series will be played next weekend (December 13 and 14) when the Tomahawks visit the Titans at the Middletown Sports Complex.
Titans and Tomahawks Overview
This will be the second time this season that the teams have met. They played at the end of September in Johnstown with each team winning a game. The Tomahawks won the first contest 5 – 2 while the Titans won 6 – 5 on Mitch Machlitt’s goal in a shootout in contest two. In those two games, the Tomahawks have outscored the Titans 10 – 8.
Christian Gorscak has the most points against the Titans this year so far with four (all assists) while Tristan Poissant has scored two goals against New Jersey. The Tomahawks are 2 for 8 (25%) on the power play. Alex Tracy played between the pipes in both games against the Titans earning a 3.36 goals against average and .854 save percentage.
While seven different Titans’ players have scored a goal, Machlitt has the most points against the Tomahawks with three. New Jersey is 4 for 9 (44%) against the Tomahawks on the power play. Netminders Patrick Pugliese and Arseni Sergeev have a combined 4.32 goals against average and .836 save percentage.
Tomahawks Overview
Johnstown currently resides in second place in the East Division with a 16-8-2-2 record for 36 points, three points behind the division leading Titans. The Tomahawks are 6 – 4 in their last ten games and they are coming off a 3 – 1 road win against the Jamestown Rebels. The Tomahawks have scored ninety-nine goals (third in the league) while they have allowed 86 (16th most in the league). Johnstown has converted on 30.6% of their chances on the power play (third best in the league) while they have prevented the opposition from scoring 72% of the time on the penalty kill (fourth worst in the league).
Gorscak leads the Tomahawks with twenty-nine totals points (11 goals and 18 assists) and game winning goals (three). Carson Gallagher has scored the most goals with thirteen. Spencer DenBeste and Matthew Doyle each have a team high +9. DenBeste leads the team with sixty-eight penalty minutes.
Tracy and David Tomeo have a combined 2.57 goals against average and .920 save percentage with one shutout (Tracy)
Titans Overview
The Titans currently lead the East Division with a 19-3-0-1 record for 39 points. Despite only being three points ahead of the Tomahawks in the standings, they have five games in hand. New Jersey has won eight of its last ten games, and they are coming off of a 7 – 4 road win against the Maryland Black Bears. They have scored 114 goals (most in the league) and have allowed 69 (tenth in the league). The Titans also lead the league on the power play having converted on 35.2% of their chances while they have prevented the opposition from scoring on the penalty kill 85.1% of the time (eighth best in the league).
Machlitt leads the team in total points with thirty-four (16 goals and 18 assists) and goals (16). Michael Outzen has a team best four game winning goals. Cade Penney has a the team’s best and +/- with +19 while Kyler Head has the most penalty minutes on the team with thirty-two.
The goaltending tandem of Pugliese (2.76 GAA and .914 SV%) and Sergeev (3.05 GAA and .909 SV%) have a combined 2.88 goals against average and .912 save percentage with one shutout (Pugliese).