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18U Hitmen Start Season Strong

By Karl W. Reidel, 09/16/15, 11:30AM EDT

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The 2015-2016 18U Jersey Hitmen are looking forward to start the season after having a successful spring and summer when they traveled north to Massachusetts to play in four (4) showcases.
 
The 18U Hitmen started in May with the USPHL Spring Showcase where they competed in the junior division as they did again in July at the USPHL Summer Showcase. In June, the team competed in the 15th Annual Hub Cup in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. They returned to the 18U midget division for the Labor Day Faceoff Tier 1 Tournament. The Hitmen completed their spring/summer campaign with an 11-4-1-1OTL record and scored a total of 85 goals and only relinquished 26 over those 17 games.
 
The first game of the 18U Hitmen USPHL season was held on Saturday, September 12 as the Hitmen played host to the Skipjacks. Thomas Terranova scored the first goal of the season off of assists from Kyle Hallbauer and Brandon O’Callahan. Anthony Firriolo followed up with a shorthanded goal and with 21 seconds remaining in the first period, Conor Tierney made it 3-0 by finishing on a power play. David Schmidling got the Skipjacks on the scoreboard with a power play goal in the second period but it was quickly answered with Terranova’s second goal of the game less than two minutes later. The Hitmen expanded their lead to 5-1 when Robert Clerc opened the third period with a power play goal and Terranova finished the scoring when he netted his hat-trick and his fifth point of the game at 1:39 of the third period for a 6-1 Hitmen victory.  Alexi Masenko stopped 17 shots in goal for the Hitmen.
 
The following day, both teams met again at the Ice Vault in Wayne, New Jersey where they skated to a 0-0 tie after one period. The scoreless tie was broken quickly at the start of the second period when the Hitmen struck for three goals in less than a minute and a half with even strength goals from Robert Clerc, Anthony Firriolo, and Danny Reidel. The Skipjacks cut the Hitmen lead to 3-1 when Curtain scored at 10:18 of the third period but the Hitmen’s Dakota Concannon answered the Skipjacks goal with 6:32 left in the game and goalie, Tyler Harmon, sealed the Hitmen victory by fighting off the Skipjacks’ final surge.
 
Thomas Terranova was named USPHL 18U offensive player of the week for his five (5) point effort on Saturday and Anthony Firriolo was named the USPHL 18U defensive player of the week for his two (2) game winning goals against the Skipjacks.