Danbury, CT | Patrick Frenette
Danbury is coming off one of the most historic weekends in franchise history to start the December-long road trip. They now face their next east division rival in the Johnstown Tomahawks for the first time this season. This will be the first of three meetings this season, yet it is also the first half of back-to-back weekends between the two squads.
Looking at Johnstown, they are coming off of a losing weekend handed to them by the Rochester Jr. Americans. However, they put up six goals to the Jr. Americans nine across the two-game set, which also set a chokehold on their top two scorers, forwards Adam Ondris and Ryan Flaherty, as they were held to one goal apiece across the two games. The Tomahawks have also been much like Katy Perry’s hit single from 2008, Hot N Cold, going 6-4-0-0 in their last 10 games. Three of those games were victories over the Maryland Black Bears, a team that Danbury has yet to see success against this season. Key players to also keep an eye on this weekend include defenseman Caden Olenczak, who is tied for first in points with the Tomahawks, as well as goaltender Zack Ferris who has a 3.11 goals against average, a .915 save percentage, with a 10-4-0-0 record in 14 games played.
As for Danbury, they are coming into this series with a new mentality following their sweep of the New Hampshire Mountain Kings. Danbury outscored the Mountain Kings 16-7, with efforts from forwards Andrew Gibbons (7G) and Kai Elkie (1G 7A) leading to the 6-2 and 10-5 victories. These accolades were also recognized by the league, as Gibbons and Elkie were named first and second star of the week for the east division, respectively. The Hat Tricks power-play soared during the first weekend of December, going 6/9 (66.67%) across the entirety of the series. The penalty kill unit also proved to be solid, only allowing two out of 11 power-play opportunities for the Mountain Kings across the two-game span. A few Hat Tricks to keep an eye out for this weekend include forwards Andrew Gibbons, Kai Elkie, and Alexis Billequey. The trio put up a combined 20 points (8G, 11A) in their first two games with Danbury.
The puck drops in Johnstown on Friday, December 13 at 7:30 p.m. on NATV, followed by a 7:00 p.m. puck drop on Saturday, December 14. Follow us on social media for game day updates, interviews, exclusive content, and more.