Titans only six points behind Rebels
The first place Rebels will face off against the second place New Jersey Titans in a home-and home series this weekend with Friday night’s game being played at IceWorks while Saturday night’s game will take place at Middletown’s Ice World.
The Rebels and Titans played three games at IceWorks prior to Thanksgiving with the Rebels capturing five out of a possible six points by winning the first two games and losing the last one in overtime. The Rebels enter this series with a six point lead over New Jersey with a game in hand.
New Jersey Titans Overview
The Titans are currently in second place in the East Division with a 17-7-1 record for 35 points. New Jersey is coming off of an 8 – 7 overtime win over the Northeast Generals. The Titans have won seven out of their last ten games. The Titans have scored 100 goals (second most in the NAHL) through 25 games and have allowed 81.
The Titans are led by Anthony Cusanelli’s (12 goals and 9 assists) and Gordie Helmuth’s (8 goals and 13 assists) 21 points. Danny Eruzione is third on the team with twenty points. Cusanelli has scored the most goals on the team with twelve. Ryan Wheeler leads the Titans defensemen with 13 points (2 goals and 11 assists). Five different players have scored two game winning goals.
New Jersey is ranked fifth in the league on the power play with a 25.2% conversion ratio while they are ranked sixth in the league on the penalty kill preventing the opposition from scoring 83% of the time. Dylan Healey leads the team with 52 penalty minutes. Defenseman Spencer Stanley has the team’s best +/- ratio of +9.
The goaltending tandem of Harriosn Feeney and Brandon Bussi has a combined 3.43 goals against average and a .895 save percentage. Bussi has one shutout.
Aston Rebels Overview
The Rebels lead the East Division with a record of 20-3-1 for 41 points, which is the best record in the North American Hockey League. The Rebels are coming off of a 5 – 4 overtime loss against the Titans back on November 20. The Rebels have won eight of their last ten games.
The Rebels have scored 95 goals through 24 games. They currently have scored the third most goals in the league. The Rebels have allowed only 41 goals which is the least amount of goals allowed in the NAHL.
The Rebels are led by Andrew Bellant’s (14 goals and 11 assists) and Dom Garcia’s (8 goals and 17 assists) 25 points and Brennan Kapcheck’s 23 points (10 goals and 13 assists). Bellant leads the team in goals with 14. He also is ranked eleventh in the league with totals points while Garcia is fifteenth (Bellant has more goals). Kapcheck leads the league with total points and goals for all defensemen. Garcia and Kapcheck lead the team with three game winning goals respectively.
The Rebels are ranked seventh in the league on the power play with a 24.5% conversion ratio while they are ranked first in the league on the penalty kill preventing the opposition from scoring 86.3% of the time. Bellant leads the team with 68 penalty minutes. Defenseman Ryan Solomon leads the team with a +21 +/- ratio, which is best in the league while Kapcheck is second in the league with +20.
Mareks Mitens leads the league in all goaltending statistics. He has won the most games (15), played the most minutes (972), has the most shutouts (6), has the best goals against average (1.23%) and save percentage (.948). The tandem of Mitens and Jack Leavy have a 1.59 goals against average and a .935 save percentage with seven shutouts.
