With no goaltenders returning to the Johnstown Tomahawks roster, new coach Jared Kirsner and his staff have made the goaltender position a priority.
The 13th-year North American Hockey League franchise practiced at North Central Recreation Centre, with 30 goalies taking part in Friday afternoon's session.
“It's been great,” Kerzner said, “Our goalie coach, Nick Misch, has done an unbelievable job. We give him the ball and he goes with it and identifies these up-and-comers and gets them into camp.”
“We're excited. Only one of our goalies is with the Tomahawks,” said Brown.
“We're completely open.”
The Tomahawks offered goaltender Ryan Sanborn, 19, a Brookfield, Connecticut native who enrolled at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Kerzner said the first two-plus days of main camp will be goalkeeper-only training.
“We have 30 goalies on our roster and that will be narrowed down to 12 that will be in the main camp at 4 p.m. on Sunday,” Karsner said.
The Tomahawks finished with 75 points from 36 wins, 21 losses and three ties, good for fourth place in the NAHL East Division for the 2023-24 season. Johnstown lost both home games in a best-of-three playoff series against fifth-place New Jersey.
Tenth-year head coach Mike Leticia stepped down after the postseason. The Tomahawks named Karsner the third coach in franchise history on May 22.
Kirsner spent the past two seasons as general manager and coach of the New Jersey Rockets of the National Collegiate Development Conference.
“It feels like a year ago that I was hired,” Kerzner said. “I've put in a lot of work recruiting and developing players in preparation for the draft, so I'm really excited to see my players on the ice for the first time.”
Kirsner said nine players from the 2023-24 team will return, including six forwards and three defensemen.
Returning players cited by the coach include All-NAHL East Division defenseman Lucas Klemm, who was an assistant captain last season and had 41 points in 60 games, and forward Dylan Schoen, who totaled 28 points.
Other forwards returning to camp are Hank Reed (six goals, 11 assists, 17 points), Tabor Aldrich (8-9-17), Nick White (15-19-34), Isaac Rentmeester (0-3-3) and Frankie Hipp (2-1-3).
Other defensemen with experience in camp are Davis Ross (2-2-4) and Dean Andrews (0-2-2).
The main camp continues at North Central Recreation Center through next week.
Mike Mastovich is a sports reporter and columnist for the Tribune-Democrat. Reach him at 814-532-5083. Follow him on Twitter. translation:.
Mike Mastovich is a sports reporter and columnist for the Tribune-Democrat. Reach him at (814) 532-5083. Follow him on Twitter. translation:.
