The Jamestown Ironmen still sit in first place in the North Division after traveling to Port Huron this past weekend in North American Hockey League action.
Jamestown earned two points and split the two-game set, falling to the Fighting Falcons on Friday night, 5-3, while coming back with a 4-1 victory on Saturday.
Although Jamestown outshot Port Huron, 42-27, on Friday, the Fighting Falcons jumped out to a quick start and held the lead for the entire game. The Ironmen were outscored in both of the first two periods and fell to a 3-1 deficit 12 minutes into the second. A pair of third-period Jamestown goals didn't make much difference as Port Huron matched that with two of its own to hang onto the 5-3 win.
Victor Johansson led the Ironmen Friday night with a goal and an assist. Other goal scorers in the loss were Ryan Urso and Luc Gerdes with assists credited to Daniel Cesarz, Matt Lanzillotti, Huba Sekesi and Even Ritt.
Reid Mimmack suffered only his second loss on the season in goal for the Ironmen while the loss snapped a six-game winning streak for Jamestown.
In a close NAHL North Division race, Port Huron (11-7-0) slipped into a first place tie with the Ironmen after Friday's win, yet it wouldn't stay that way for long, as Jamestown answered on Saturday.
"We had a lot of good scoring opportunities Friday night, but didn't bury them. We got away from what we have been doing these past few weeks to win," explained Ironmen head coach Dan Daikawa. "We got back to the game plan and executed, playing a much better game on Saturday."
Saturday night's contest was a very different story as Jamestown jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. The Ironmen scored three first-period goals from Urso, Gerdes and Sekesi. Elliot Tisdale tacked on another score in the second period and the Ironmen went on to win, 4-1.
Mimmack was excellent between the pipes for the Ironmen, nearly earning his second shutout of the season, allowing Port Huron to sneak in their lone goal of the night with only 41 seconds left in regulation. Mimmack saved 28 of 29 shots from the Fighting Falcons to earn his ninth victory of the season.
Urso and Sekesi each added an assist to their goals while other assists for Jamestown came from Ross Pavek, Dylan Zink, Ritt and Johansson.
With the win, the Ironmen improved their record to 11-3-2 and moved back into sole possession of first place in the North Division.
Jamestown will take on the Michigan Warriors, a team that sits at the bottom of the North Division, on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena. The Ironmen swept a two game series on the road against Michigan earlier this season, and despite the hometown team's success, they are determined not to lose focus heading into this weekend's games.
"We don't look at what the other team's record is, we look at how they play and prepare the same for all of our opponents," said Daikawa. "Our goal is to get better each day in practice, stick to our game plan and to keep doing the little things to win games."