Jets Down Tomahawks, Stay Undefeated

Sep 21, 2017

By Mason Lyttle

BLAINE, MN — The Janesville Jets jumped out in front and never looked back, controlling play all throughout a 3-1 win on Thursday afternoon over the Johnstown Tomahawks.

The win moves coach Gary Shuchuk’s Jets to 3-0-0-0 on the young season.

(click for box score)

Playing in his first career junior game, Compuware product Nathan Solis (5:59 1st) got the Jets on the board first, picking a corner with a wrist shot just six minutes into the contest. Two goals followed quickly after Solis opened up the scoring. Under two minutes later, Brenden MacLaren (7:41 1st) doubled the lead for Janesville, and Johnstown’s Carter Dwyer (9:01 1st) answered with a shot through traffic to cut his team’s deficit to 2-1.

Starting the second period on the power play, the Jets were gifted 1:11 of a two-man advantage when the Tomahawks’ Cade Groton took a slashing minor. It was again Brenden MacLaren (1:27 2nd) finding twine with a backdoor one-timer from Alec Semandel, doubling the Jets’ lead again. MacLaren’s insurance marker would stay just that.

The third period saw slightly more even results on the shot clock, seven a piece, but the Jets strongly killed two penalties and hung on for the 3-1 victory.

Garrett Nieto earned the win for Janesville, turning aside 14 of 15 pucks directed his way. Taking the loss for Johnstown was veteran Vinnie Purpura, who was kept busy with 31 saves on 34 shots.

The Jets will get a bit more than 24 hours’ rest before their next match, a 4:15pm CDT showdown with former assistant coach Cody Campbell’s Odessa Jackalopes. Stay tuned to Twitter for  live updates, or watch the action as Mike Hammett will again bring you the call on HockeyTV.com.