Johnstown’s Will Lawrence scored his second goal of the game with 1:24 remaining in the contest to break a 5 – 5 tie and lead the visiting Tomahawks to a 7 – 5 win over the Rebels. Lawrence ended up with a hat trick.
Ryan Bunting had a goal and two assists while Luke Minard and Josh Galizia each had a goal and an assist.
Despite the Rebels third straight loss, the team has fought hard and competed in every game.
Johnstown got out to a quick 3 – 0 lead within the first eleven and a half minutes of the first period. Johnstown’s Justin Rapp brought the biscuit into the offensive zone and went towards the cage. Going from his right to his left, Rapp took a backhanded shot that was save by Rebels netminder Jakub Krbecek but the rebound came right out to Will Moore on the doorstep and Moore slammed the biscuit into the back of the net for his tenth goal of the season.
A minute and fifteen seconds later Johnstown doubled their lead. With a scrum in front of the Rebels net, the puck went out to the Tomahawks’ Chase Sandhu in the high slot and Sandhu did a 180 degree turn and took a clapper that found its way through a screen and beat Krebecek high glove side.
With 8:36 remaining in the first, Lawrence scored his first goal of the game to make it 3 – 0. The Tomahawks’ Zach Aben brought the puck into the offensive zone with two Rebels draped on his back and Aben was able to take a shot on Krebecek but the rebound came right out to Lawrence who shot the puck into the back of the net to chase Krebecek from the contest and was replaced with Owen Crudale between the pipes.
Paddy Fortune put the Rebels on the board with 3:38 left in the opening period. With play inside the Philadelphia zone, Brock Jones picked up the loose puck in the far side corner and passed it up to Charles Panchisin along the boards. After skating through center ice, Panchisin gained the line on a two-on-one with Fortune. As Panchisin reached the top of the faceoff circle, he made a cross-ice pass through the slot that Fortune redirected past Johnstown netminder Jacob Osborne for Fortune’s sixth goal of the season.
Five seconds after the Rebels scored, Johnstown’s Sean Morgan was called for head contact to give Philadelphia the man advantage. Forty seconds later Bunting brought the Rebels deficit to one. Jared Coccimiglio started the play at the top of the near side faceoff circle and passed the puck back to DiNubile at the top of zone. DiNubile took a shot that was redirected by Billy Sheridan and the rebound came right out to Bunting who backhanded the biscuit past Osborne for his sixth goal of the season. Bunting now has seven points in his past four games.
Johnstown regained their two-goal lead just 2:30 into the middle stanza. After Galizia was knocked off the puck at the far side half wall in his own end, the loose biscuit came out to Hank Reed who skated to the top of the circle and cut towards the near side faceoff circle and took a long-backhanded shot that went off Crudale’s glove and into the back of the net.
The Rebels then scored three unanswered goals to take a 5 – 4 lead. Bunting made a centering pass out front from the far side corner to Klaus Jogi in the slot who immediately made a cross-ice pass to Billy Sheridan who shot the biscuit past an outstretched Osborne to make it 4 – 3 at 5:03 into the second.
A minute and six seconds later the game was tied. Julian Brown started the play at the top of the far side point and passed the biscuit to Thomas Neu on his right. Neu stepped up and took a shot that was saved by Osborne but Galizia tapped in the rebound past Osbourne for Galizia’s third goal of the season.
Osborne was replaced by Zach Ferris.
Minard gave the Rebels their only lead of the night at 9:19 into the second. Galizia brought the puck into the offensive zone by the far side boards and cut towards the net and took a shot that was saved by Ferris but the biscuit came out to Bunting who completely turned and slid a pass through the goal mouth to Minard who jammed the puck into the net for his third of the season.
Johnstown would tie the contest with 5:15 left in the middle stanza on a tic-tac-toe goal. With play at the Rebels end wall, Drew Belleson went to avoid a Johnstown attacker and went to make a bounce pass to himself off the boards but he was stripped off the puck by Taybor Aldrich who backhanded a pass to Sandhu at the near side faceoff dot and he immediately made a cross-ice pass to Dylan Shane who took a one-timer that beat Crudale.
With both teams having their chances to take the lead in the third, it came down to Lawrence. After Jared Coccimiglio entered the offensive zone he took a shot on Ferris that was saved and the rebound came out to Sandhu at the end wall and Sandhu passed the biscuit up to Jade Johnson at the near side faceoff dot. Johnson made a cross-ice pass to Lawrence who skated through center ice and into the Rebels zone with a defender on him but Lawrence was able to take a wrist shot that beat Crudale high, blocker side to make it a 6 – 5.
Lawrence completed his hat trick with an empty net goal with thirty-two seconds left in the game to make it 7 – 5.
Rebels’ goalies combined to save 34 of 40 shots while Johnstown’s netminders turned aside 30 of 35. Click HERE for the complete box score.
