George Hinds scored a hat trick and Colin Smargon added his first two goals in the NA3HL as the Titans secured the win at their home opener on Wednesday afternoon.
Coming off three wins in as many days over the weekend, the Titans wanted to continue playing at high level and put some space between them and their divisional rivals in the standings. The start of the game held true to that idea, as Colin Smargon found the net just 2:55 into the game, assisted by Grant Coykendall and Matt Kassay. George Hinds doubled the lead 41 seconds later to give the Titans an early two goal lead, with Will Fliss and Payton Fobes got the helpers. The goals seemed to awaken the Jr. Hat Tricks, as they scored twice to tie the game with 9:50 to go in the period. However, the Titans weathered the storm, and Zane Mazzola connected on the power play to give New Jersey a lead they would not relenquish. Zach Gershner and newcomer Maxim Mavrin picked up the assists on Mazzola’s first in the league. The Titans went on the power play again towards the end of the period, and George Hinds converted his second of the game on the man advantage to give New Jersey a 4-2 lead going into the first intermission.
Danbury would again threaten in the second, scoring 4:29 into the second to cut their deficit to one. It was as close as they would come, and George Hinds completed the hat trick with under a minute to play, tapping in a backdoor pass after Mavrin sliced through the Hat Tricks’ defense.
After an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty assessed to Danbury after Hinds’s goal, the Titans began the third on the power play, where Will Fliss scored for New Jersey’s third goal of the game with the man advantage. Dante Debueriis and Hinds picked up the assists on Fliss’s 5th of the season, tying him with Hinds for the team lead in goals. Colin Smargon went coast to coast with under five minutes to play for his second of the game, and Zach O’Neil added the exclamation mark with another power play goal at the 18:26 mark.
With the victory, the Titans improves to 6-0-0 to begin the season, matching a franchise record set in the 2020-21 season. George Hinds’s three goals and one assist in the game now move him atop the NA3HL scoring leaderboard with five goals and seven assists. New Jersey will be in action again on Saturday, September 30th, with a 3:30PM faceoff against the Norwich Sea Captains. That game is bookended by the home opener for the NAHL Titans on Friday night at 7:30PM vs Rochester, and the rematch after the NA3HL game at 7:00PM on Saturday. Tickets to the NAHL games can be purchased HERE.