In fact, he is one of the smallest.

But what the Jamestown Rebels forward lacks in size, he makes up for in energy and determination.

The Orchard Park-born Amici’s traits were on full display Wednesday night as he scored the game-winning goal and was a plus-2 as the Rebels beat the Johnstown Tomahawks 4-2 in North American Hockey League East Division play at Northwest Arena.

“I thought that was probably our most consistent effort through 60 minutes this year,” Jamestown head coach Joe Coombs said. “There is still a lot to improve on, but it is certainly the start of the way we need to play to be successful.”

Jamestown goalie Jon Howe makes one of his 19 saves in the Rebels 4-2 victory over the Johnstown Tomahawks on Wednesday at Northwest Arena in Jamestown. P-J photo by Scott Reagle

Despite falling behind 2-0 early, Jamestown (9-9-2-1) tied the game in the second period before Amici’s winner 5:52 into the third period.

The 5-foot-6 Amici jumped onto the ice and streaked into the Johnstown defensive zone where he one-timed an errant Tomahawks pass past goaltender Sam Evola’s glove hand high into the corner of the goal to give the Rebels a 3-2 lead.

“I’m not huge on undersized players … because they have to bring an element to your team and to the game,” Coombs said. ” … His energy level coming out of Midget can be contagious. He’s got a decent skill set where you knew as long as he kept working he’d figure it out. He’s been a lot better here the last three weeks. … He’s doing a nice job.”

Jamestown shut down Johnstown the remainder of the way, allowing just five shots in the third period before putting the game away on Owen West’s empty-net goal from center ice.

It didn’t start off pretty for the Rebels.

Johnstown (10-8-1-1) opened the scoring just 3:16 into the game when Jake Black passed through the center of the Jamestown zone and Sean Ramsay one-timed his third goal of the season past Jon Howe.

The Tomahawks had luck on their side for the second goal. Johnny Ulicny broke in alone on Howe, but the Jamestown goaltender stopped the initial shot, only to see the rebound bounce off one of his defender’s shin pads into the goal for a 2-0 Johnstown lead.

“The second goal, I think quite honestly, was a lucky break. The defenseman should’ve just gone to his partner, instead he tried to force something through the middle,” Coombs said. “As he back-checked, the same kid that gave it away, it went off his shin pad into the net.”

But the Rebels didn’t dwell on the deficit. Just over a minute later, Jak Vaarwerk’s shot through traffic found the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season to make it 2-1.

“Jak isn’t one to shoot the puck a ton. He likes to share it,” Coombs said. “He has a good shot and he saw something obviously we didn’t.”

Jamestown came out flying on its first shift of the second period, only to see its aggressiveness prove costly when Reid Lune took a tripping penalty.

“I didn’t like our penalties tonight. … We had two offensive-zone penalties and a neutral-zone penalty,” Coombs said. “They weren’t undisciplined, but they were at bad times.”

The Rebels embarked on their second of three successful penalty kills and just after the penalty ended, Jamestown tied the game. West fired the puck up the ice to Roux Bazin who then found Carter Casper open for his second goal of the season to make it 2-2.

“He scored last game, too, in a very similar way in Boston. He’s a 6-4 winger who had big numbers coming out of Midgets,” Coombs said. “That doesn’t always translate right away for these kids. … It just takes some kids a little time. … He’s a nice kid, he’s good in the room and I like to see him have success.”

A David Matousek boarding penalty gave Jamestown a power play with 31 seconds left in the second period and Amici missed the net on a one-timer that would’ve given the Rebels the lead.

Less than six minutes into the third period, the Nichols High School product made sure it didn’t happen again when he scored the winner.

“It was on a change … they were throwing some pucks blind … he happened to be in the right spot at the right time and absolutely buried it,” Coombs said. “It’s good to see one of those go in for us.”

Now Jamestown will look to build on its victory as it travels to Johnstown for Friday and Saturday games at 1st Summit Arena at Cambria County War Memorial.

“We play our next six on the road before we come back and finish our first half. This next stretch of hockey is really important for this team,” Coombs said. “We haven’t really seemed to play well Friday nights, but we seem to play well the next night. … We have to take a step as a team. … We need to find a way through our next eight before Christmas.”

NOTES: Lune, Marcus Kivela Carlzon and Noah Szretter had additional assists for Jamestown. … Howe made 19 saves in net for the Rebels. … Ethan Perrault and Cole Bianchin had additional assists for the Tomahawks while Evola made 27 saves in net. … The Rebels debuted a new third jersey in the game.