The Norwich Sea Captains sailed south on Wednesday, October 20 to meet the New Jersey Titans for the first time in franchise history. Despite setting a season high with 50 shots on goal, New Jersey pulled away in the third period to hand Norwich their sixth loss in a row by a score of 6-2 in North American 3 Hockey League play.
Roland Pomechal connected early for New Jersey, putting the Titans up 1-0 less than two minutes into the game. Norwich responded immediately with Jameson Bain’s first of the season at the 3:04 mark when he banged home a rebound off a Darrell Smith shot from the point. Teagen Beier added a second assist on the goal. Halfway through the period, Riley Haviland snuck a backhand shot past the glove hand of Norwich starting goaltender Andrew Yocum to give the Titans a lead they would not relinquish.
Sam Senft was in the right spot at the right time midway through the second period, deflecting a shot with his body past Yocum to make it 3-1. The goal would chase Yocum from the Sea Captains net, finishing his afternoon stopping 12 of 15 shots on goal. Brendan Pellerito would man the Norwich crease for the balance of the game, stopping 18 of 21.
“I was very pleased with a number of things that we did in this afternoon’s game, but we also made some critical mistakes that made it very hard for us to earn a result that we could be satisfied with,” said Norwich head coach Kevin Cunningham. “New Jersey got better and better as the game wore on. Their effort and execution in the third period, including their two power play goals, proved to be the difference in this game.”
Cam Hilton scored his second goal in as many games at 10:43 of the third off assists from Tim Hayden and Ethan Ranger. However, the Sea Captains were unable to mount a comeback, surrendering three goals in the frame. With the loss, the Sea Captains find themselves at the bottom of the East Division. Norwich will need to quickly move on, as they will take to the road again on Friday, October 22, visiting the Northeast Generals for an 8:00pm faceoff. The Sea Captains’ next home game is a week later, a 12:00 PM faceoff against New Jersey at the RoseGarden Ice Arena on Friday, October 29. Tickets are available by clicking HERE.