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JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Johnstown Tomahawks’ 16-year-old emergency backup goaltender didn’t really expect to see action against the Rochester Jr. Americans Friday night.
But five days before his birthday, Bellefonte Area High School product Ryan Lombardo manned the Tomahawks’ net for the third period in a 5-0 loss to the third-place Jr. Americans.
“I was pretty surprised. I wasn’t expecting to go in today, but I had a lot of fun with it,” said Lombardo, who was added to the North American Hockey League team’s roster due to netminder Nikita Oleksiienko’s upper body injury. “I allowed two goals which I think I probably could have stopped.
“I had fun and tried my best.”
Johnstown veteran goaltender Zack Ferris played the first two periods, but received a game misconduct and a suspension for participating in his second goaltender fight of the season after the second-period buzzer.
“Talk about getting thrown into a game and thrown into a mine field,” Tomahawks coach Adam Houli said of Lombardo’s NAHL debut. “I thought he battled. He didn’t get rattled. He settled in and made some good, strong saves.
“Our guys protected around him. I thought we did a good job in the third. We killed off a 5-on-3 and a 5-minute major.
“Take that away, I thought we carried the third period.”
Lombardo plays for the Pittsburgh Predators 16-Under AAA team. In fact, the Predators have a game Saturday, which typically wouldn’t matter.
But the Tomahawks (17-15-6), tied for fifth place in the East Division with 40 points, will face the third-place Jr. Americans (25-11-0, 50 points) at 6 p.m. Saturday, leaving Houli to consider options in net.
Rochester goaltender Florian Wade also was suspended for instigating the fight. The Jr. American’s had goaltender Jensen Carlstrom in net for the third period. He has 13 wins, one more than Wade.
“We have to be smart,” Houli said. “Getting into that goalie fight, I don’t think there is much we could do when a kid comes 200 feet and is looking to engage. We have to protect ourselves.”
Houli said the Tomahawks will reach out to the NAHL to see how the goaltender suspensions will be handled with each team shorthanded in net Saturday.
“We’ll have to look at the rosters, see if the suspension holds on Ferris,” Houli said. “If not, we’re going to have two emergency backups or add a goalie somehow.”
Lombardo said he is willing to help.
“If they need me again, then I’ll be here,” Lombardo said. “My club team actually has a game (Saturday).”
The incident that created the goaltender shortage began after Rochester’s Ryan Shaw took a shot after the second-period buzzer sounded.
It was the second time in the game that the Jr. Americans took a shot after a whistle or buzzer.
The teams began to pair up in the corner, and Ferris verbally engaged and shoved a player, which prompted Rochester goalie Wade to skate the length of the ice to fight Ferris.
The crowd of 1,683 reacted enthusiastically. Once the teams finally left the ice, both Ferris and Wade received game misconducts as well as two-minute minors and a five-minute fighting major.
Shaw had a two-minute unsportsmanlike penalty, and the Tomahawks began the third period on the power play.
“To be honest we just made some catastrophic mistakes that they buried the puck on, and that’s what a good team will do,” Houli said. “When I go back and watch it I don’t think I’ll be disappointed in what we were doing and how we executed with the overall concept. We got limited in some catastrophic errors and they buried the puck.”
The Tomahawks added Lombardo to the lineup due to the injury to Oleksiienko, who had a great game in last weekend’s 2-1 shootout victory at Elmira.
The Jr. Americans’ Owen King netted his 15th goal of the season and second of the game 1:35 into the third period to make it 4-0. Lombardo made the initial stop on the five-hole shot, which trickled through his pads.
Less than a minute later, Johnstown’s Reed Richeson received a 5-minute major boarding penalty and a game misconduct.
Lombardo faced a 5-on-3 Jr. Americans power play and the Hawks had to kill off another 5-minute major later in the period.
Rochester’s Stone Rolston scored 8:39 into the third.
In addition to the Pittsburgh Predators organization, the 6-foot, 180-pound Lombardo previously was part of the Mid-State Mustangs program for two years.
Mike Mastovich is a sports reporter and columnist for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5083. Follow him on Twitter @Masty81.
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But five days before his birthday, Bellefonte Area High School product Ryan Lombardo manned the Tomahawks’ net for the third period in a 5-0 loss to the third-place Jr. Americans.
“I was pretty surprised. I wasn’t expecting to go in today, but I had a lot of fun with it,” said Lombardo, who was added to the North American Hockey League team’s roster due to netminder Nikita Oleksiienko’s upper body injury. “I allowed two goals which I think I probably could have stopped.
“I had fun and tried my best.”
Johnstown veteran goaltender Zack Ferris played the first two periods, but received a game misconduct and a suspension for participating in his second goaltender fight of the season after the second-period buzzer.
“Talk about getting thrown into a game and thrown into a mine field,” Tomahawks coach Adam Houli said of Lombardo’s NAHL debut. “I thought he battled. He didn’t get rattled. He settled in and made some good, strong saves.
“Our guys protected around him. I thought we did a good job in the third. We killed off a 5-on-3 and a 5-minute major.
“Take that away, I thought we carried the third period.”
Lombardo plays for the Pittsburgh Predators 16-Under AAA team. In fact, the Predators have a game Saturday, which typically wouldn’t matter.
But the Tomahawks (17-15-6), tied for fifth place in the East Division with 40 points, will face the third-place Jr. Americans (25-11-0, 50 points) at 6 p.m. Saturday, leaving Houli to consider options in net.
Rochester goaltender Florian Wade also was suspended for instigating the fight. The Jr. American’s had goaltender Jensen Carlstrom in net for the third period. He has 13 wins, one more than Wade.
“We have to be smart,” Houli said. “Getting into that goalie fight, I don’t think there is much we could do when a kid comes 200 feet and is looking to engage. We have to protect ourselves.”
Houli said the Tomahawks will reach out to the NAHL to see how the goaltender suspensions will be handled with each team shorthanded in net Saturday.
“We’ll have to look at the rosters, see if the suspension holds on Ferris,” Houli said. “If not, we’re going to have two emergency backups or add a goalie somehow.”
Lombardo said he is willing to help.
“If they need me again, then I’ll be here,” Lombardo said. “My club team actually has a game (Saturday).”
The incident that created the goaltender shortage began after Rochester’s Ryan Shaw took a shot after the second-period buzzer sounded.
It was the second time in the game that the Jr. Americans took a shot after a whistle or buzzer.
The teams began to pair up in the corner, and Ferris verbally engaged and shoved a player, which prompted Rochester goalie Wade to skate the length of the ice to fight Ferris.
The crowd of 1,683 reacted enthusiastically. Once the teams finally left the ice, both Ferris and Wade received game misconducts as well as two-minute minors and a five-minute fighting major.
Shaw had a two-minute unsportsmanlike penalty, and the Tomahawks began the third period on the power play.
“To be honest we just made some catastrophic mistakes that they buried the puck on, and that’s what a good team will do,” Houli said. “When I go back and watch it I don’t think I’ll be disappointed in what we were doing and how we executed with the overall concept. We got limited in some catastrophic errors and they buried the puck.”
The Tomahawks added Lombardo to the lineup due to the injury to Oleksiienko, who had a great game in last weekend’s 2-1 shootout victory at Elmira.
The Jr. Americans’ Owen King netted his 15th goal of the season and second of the game 1:35 into the third period to make it 4-0. Lombardo made the initial stop on the five-hole shot, which trickled through his pads.
Less than a minute later, Johnstown’s Reed Richeson received a 5-minute major boarding penalty and a game misconduct.
Lombardo faced a 5-on-3 Jr. Americans power play and the Hawks had to kill off another 5-minute major later in the period.
Rochester’s Stone Rolston scored 8:39 into the third.
In addition to the Pittsburgh Predators organization, the 6-foot, 180-pound Lombardo previously was part of the Mid-State Mustangs program for two years.
Mike Mastovich is a sports reporter and columnist for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5083. Follow him on Twitter @Masty81.
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