The Titans’ second road trip to Johnstown in three weeks was a bit bumpy as they dropped two of the three games. They were able to get three of a possible six points.
On Friday, the lone goal came for the Tomahawks in the first period. The Titans started off strong on Saturday night with goals from Raymond Brice and Adam Hascic, but were unable to hold the off the hard charging Tomahawks, ultimately losing in a shootout with the final result: 3-2 (2-1).
Then on Sunday the Titans experienced a scoring outburst of five goals from five different players: Darren Brady, Andrew Durham, Ray Brice, Jesse Farabee, and Victor Ostling.
In the East Division, the Titans have a four-point lead over second place Johnstown Tomahawks. However, the Titans’ have played three fewer games than Johnstown.
Three in Double Digits:
The Titans now have three players with 11 goals. Anthony Cusanelli, Keegan Miller and Brice are tied for the team lead in goals.
Thank you Bruno:
Bruno Birzitis added two more assists to his season total, raising it to 16 on the season. He currently is tied for 11th in the NAHL in that category. He also sits tied for 36th in the league in points with 20.
Feeling homesick:
During the month of November, the Titans had just two home games out of a possible nine games. In that stretch the Titans went 5-3-0 with one game postponed. Despite not playing with the comforts of home, the Titans have gone 11-4-2 on the road so far this season. The Titans won’t play on the road again until January 8, 2016 at Aston.
A new face:
Last weekend saw the arrival and debut of a new player. Left-winger Igor Valko of Bratislava, Slovakia was signed to a NAHL tendered contract after spending last season with the Topeka Capitals of the NA3HL. In his first season in North America, Valko recorded 10 points having scored three goals with seven assists according to Eliteprospects.com.
Valko played in all three games in Johnstown but didn’t collect any points and has a plus/minus rating of -1.
Kenai River Brown Bears:
Pronounced ‘keen eye’, the Brown Bears play in Soldotna, Alaska, which is located on the Kenai River Peninsula. The population of Soldotna is 4,163 according to visitsoldotna.com while the Kenai River Peninsula has a population of more than 55,000 people.
On the ice the Brown Bears sit in the bottom of the Midwest Division with just one win in 26 games for a 1-25-0 record with just two points. They have only eight players with more than two goals. Their lone victory came in the form of a 4-3 victory in overtime on the road against the Janesville Jets.
10 Random Alaska Facts:
- In 1867 United States Secretary of State William H. Seward offered Russia $7,200,000, or two cents per acre, for Alaska.
- The state of Rhode Island could fit into Alaska 425 times.
- Dog mushing is the official state sport. The Alaska Legislature adopted it in 1972.
- Alaska accounts for 25% of the oil produced in the United States.
- The fishing and seafood industry is the state's largest private industry employer.
- Nearly one-third of Alaska lies within the Arctic Circle.
- Alaska is a geographical marvel. When a scale map of Alaska is superimposed on a map of the 48 lower states, Alaska extends from coast to coast.
- The state's coastline extends over 6,600 miles.
- Alaska is the United State's largest state and is over twice the size of Texas. Measuring from north to south the state is approximately 1,400 miles long and measuring from east to west it is 2,700 miles wide.
- 17 of the 20 highest peaks in the United States are located in Alaska.