The New Jersey Titans opened the 2024-25 campaign with a victory over the East Division’s five-time champion Northeast Generals by a score of 2-1 tonight at the Middletown Sports Complex. It is the Titans first win over the Generals since December 2nd, 2022.
A scoreless first period saw the Titans get heavily outshot by a 21-10 margin, but New Jersey goaltender Nick Gould stood tall, sending the teams into the first intermission with a scoreless tie. In the second period, the Titans broke through first when Vlad Zakharov’s centering feed went of a defensive stick and fluttered over the goal line to give New Jersey the 1-0 lead. The Generals would respond about three minutes later, when a deflected shot fooled Gould and tied the game at one. Not to be outdone, Juno Ryu saw his shot get deflected into the Northeast goal to restore the lead for the Titans. For both Zakharov and Ryu, it was their first ever goal in the NA3HL.
Gould would be the story of the third period, as New Jersey was outshot 29-3 in the final frame. It didn’t matter, as Gould would go on to stop 65 shots en route to first star of the game honors and his first victory at the junior hockey level. Prior to this season, Gould had played in the New Jersey Titans youth organization before taking the jump to junior hockey in his age 19 season.
The teams will face off again tomorrow, Saturday, September 16th, with a 4:30pm faceoff at the Middletown Sports Complex. Admission to the game is free, or can be watched on NAHLtv.com.