The New Jersey Titans opened their 2024-25 season with a weekend split against the Rochester Jr Americans, dropping the season opener 5-3 on Friday night before recovering with a 3-2 shootout victory Saturday.
Friday’s game saw the Titans fall behind early, surrendering an early goal in the first period. New Jersey rebounded from the earlier deficit, with goals from Vermont commit Kristofers Krumins and alternate captain Ryan Friedman to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Harvard commit Logan Renkowski stretched the lead to 3-1 when he scored 33 seconds into the second period, but that would be the Titans’ offense would be able to muster. Rochester scored less than a minute after Renkowski’s goal to trail by one, and they found the equalizer later in the period to tie the game after 40 minutes of play. The Jr Americans scored what would prove to be the game winning goal 43 seconds into the final regulation period, and an empty net goal with under a minute to play would seal the game away in Rochester’s favor 5-3. Austin McNicholas stopped 34 of 38 shots on goal in his NAHL debut, in a game where the Titans were outshot in all three periods.
The lack of offense presented itself again to begin Saturday night’s game, with a first period that saw New Jersey outshot by Rochester by a 16-5 margin. The Jr Americans would again strike first, leading 1-0 after the first period. They would double their lead 4:09 into the second period, but the goal served as a catalyst to roust the Titans offense out of its slumber. Alex Papaspyropolous tapped home a Ryan Friedman pass to cut the deficit in half with 5:28 to go in the second period, setting the stage for a comeback in the third. Shawn Leary would provide the honors with his first NAHL goal 27 seconds into the final frame to tie the game, assisted by Nikita Meshcheryakov. Despite only recording 3 shots in the final 19 plus minutes of regulation, New Jersey was able to hold on and force overtime. The extra five minutes provided no answers, and the game would require a shootout to determine the winner. Renkowski and Meshcheryakov would score, and McNicholas would shut the door on Rochester’s third shooter to give the Titans a come from behind victory for their first points of the season.
With a record of 1-1-0, New Jersey next sets their sights north to Lewiston, Maine, to face off against Ethan Wongus and the Nordiques this weekend. Last season, Maine and New Jersey split their season series with 4 wins each, including a pair of victories by the Titans to close out the regular season. The first meeting between New Jersey and Maine is set for Friday, September 20th, at 7:30pm, with an encore the next night, September 21st, at 7:00pm. Both games will be available to watch on NAHLtv.com.