The New Jersey Titans completed the busiest portion of their season this past week, playing five games in a span of seven days. The Titans ended that series of games with a victory, snapping a four game skid.
New Jersey began the series with a midweek game against the Danbury Jr Hat Tricks. Zane Mazzola started the game with aplomb, scoring twice in the first 3:52 of the game. Egor Sobolev and Will Fliss picked up the assists on Mazzola’s 7th of the year, with Zach O’Neil and George Hinds on Mazzola’s 8th. Danbury scored twice in less than a minute towards the end of the period to tie the game going into the first intermission. A scoreless second period saw the Titans outshoot Danbury by a 16-4 margin, but the game remained tied through 40 minutes of play. Mazzola would complete the hat trick seven minutes into the third, with helpers credited to Fliss and Lachlan Haegar. For Haegar, it was his first game and point in the NA3HL last year. The Jr Hat Tricks tied the game a few minutes later, and the game would require extra time to find a winner. A scoreless overtime period led to a shootout, and one goal by Danbury was enough to secure the extra point as they defeated New Jersey 4-3.
Next, the Titans faced the New Hampshire Mountain Kings for a pair of games at home, prior to travelling north for the first NA3HL East Division Showcase. Friday night saw the Titans and Mountain Kings skate to a scoreless first period. Payton Fobes tallied his 8th of the season for the first goal of the game, but New Hampshire tied the game later in the period, before exploding for three goals to begin the third. Zach O’Neil got one back, but an empty net goal saw the Titans fall 5-2. Things would not improve Saturday night in New Jersey, with the Titans getting shut out for the first time this season by a score of 3-0.
The slide would continue on Monday when the Titans and Mountain Kings skated in the first game of the first NA3HL East Division Showcase, featuring all six teams in the division. Fobes connected 3:55 into the game for his 9th of the year, assisted by O’Neil. A Mountain Kings goal tied the game before the first period ended, but Zach Gershner restored the lead 8:22 into the second. George Hinds and O’Neil assisted on Gershner’s 3rd of the year. With 13 assists, Gershner leads in points from the blueline for the Titans so far this season. However, New Hampshire scored twice more in the period, and added an empty net goal in the third to hand New Jersey their fourth straight loss.
Concluding the exhaustive series, New Jersey and New Hampshire played in their fourth game in five days on Tuesday. It seemed like the bad times would continue after the Titans went into the first intermission down 1-0. Fobes clocked his 10th goal of the season halfway through the second, assisted by Hinds and Maxim Mavrin. With the helper, George Hinds has now recorded 20 assists in 22 games. Coupled with 8 goals, Hinds leads New Jersey with 30 points, making him the highest scorer in the division, and 4th overall in the 34 team NA3HL. Again, the Mountain Kings responded, and on a pair of goals went into the second intermission with a 3-1 lead. However, the New Jersey offense finally woke up in the third period, with Fobes scoring his 11th and 12th to complete his hat trick and tie the game 6:03 into the third. Hinds and O’Neil picked up the helpers on Fobes’s second of the game, with Hinds and Gershner on the third. The Titans completed the comeback on Wes Jung’s first junior hockey goal, which would stand as the game winner and end the span of games on a high note.
Now with a record of 13-7-2, the Titans remain in 2nd place in the East, trailing the first place Northeast Generals by 2 points. New Jersey now gets some time to recover and enjoy time with family over Thanksgiving, before skating again on home ice Friday, December 1st, against the Long Beach Sharks. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:30 at the Middletown Sports Complex, and will be streamed on NAHLtv.