ODENTON, MD– After a weekend on the road, the Black Bears returned home for a tough match-up against the high powered Northeast Generals. While Friday night wasn’t the best for the Black Bears, Saturday had the power of Old Bay flowing through Piney Orchard Ice Arena and allowed for the Black Bears to score a split on the weekend.
FRIDAY JANUARY 27th, 2023: BLACK BEARS (3) vs. Northeast (6): With six players out to injury, the Black Bears looked to power through while bringing on one of their tender players, Tyler Shaver, to help out with the squad. The Black Bears got into a bit of penalty trouble, which isn’t the best to do to a team that has three of the top-four scorers in the league. Luckily, Jack Wieneke and the penalty kill were able to kill things off. With Maryland pushing at the middle of the frame, they couldn’t solve Toby Hopp at the start. The only tally of the period was late in the frame with Frank D’Ancona scoring while falling down after a turnover at the Maryland blue line led to a quick transition the other way. Wieneke was sharp after that goal-against, making some key saves late in the frame to keep the score at 1-0 after 20 minutes.
A frantic second period was upon us, as an early penalty for the Black Bears resulted in Ryan Schelling netting the power play goal for Northeast to put them up 2-0. Minutes later, Samuel Stitz cut across the top of the circle and whipped a wrister past Hopp to get Maryland on the board. That joy was short-lived with the Black Bears turning the puck over at their blue line and Andrew DellaDonna tipping home a shot from the point to put Northeast up 3-1. The Black Bears would strike later thanks to a two-man advantage given to them, leading Branden Piku to hammer a one-timer home from the slot to make it 3-2. Maryland would keep the pressure on the Northeast defense, thanks to some timely saves by Wieneke to keep them in it. It wasn’t until under three minutes where Riley Ruh would tap in a Hunter Ramos and Christian Catalano joint rebound to tie the game up. However, another turnover in the Maryland defensive zone gave Northeast the lead with Paul Minnehan closing the scoring of the period and keeping Northeast up 4-3.
Discipline in key times has been rough for Maryland and the beginning of the third was no different, with two straight penalties resulting in Ryan Remick getting a backdoor goal on the power play to make it 5-3 Northeast. Black Bears had their chances later on in the game, but couldn’t find one to fall. The aggression from the Black Bears were an undoing, with a pinch from a defender turning onto a Northeast odd-man rush and a DellaDonna goal to make it 6-3. Some feistiness at the end of the game from Ervie Terwilliger of Maryland and Nick Ramm of Northeast led to double misconducts for both– but it didn’t matter with Northeast taking the first game of the weekend.
SATURDAY JANUARY 28th, 2023: BLACK BEARS (5) vs. Northeast (3): Thanks to the suspension of Ervie Terwilliger to coincide with the injuries, the Black Bears were down to 11 forwards and six defensemen for game two of the weekend. Notwithstanding, Maryland was off to an early start with plenty of chances on Toby Hopp, but nothing was able to fall for them. The attacks would pay off with a power play near the midway point of the frame and ended with Sean Kilcullen ripping one by Hopp to give Maryland the early lead. Northeast would get it right back with a shot redirecting off Paul Minnehan’s shin pad and behind William Hakansson to tie the game up 28 seconds later.
After killing an early penalty, the Black Bears kept at it offensively, gaining the lead back after Brad McNeil crashed the net off a Hunter Ramos shot resulting in the captain’s 14th of the year for the 2-1 Maryland lead. Northeast would tie it up again minutes later with Minnehan ripping a shot through a screen to fool Hakansson and make it 2-2. Not getting down, the Black Bears continue to press with a little puck luck with under seven minutes remaining as Riley Ruh gets his blocked pass right to his blade and rips home his second of the weekend to make it 3-2 Maryland. After a couple of big saves by Hakansson down the stretch, Maryland got caught by Northeast’s forward getting behind the defense and led to Jared Scott going glove side to make it 4-3 with eight seconds left and then leading into the intermission.
The third period was mostly possessed by Northeast as they looked to get the equalizer. Hakansson and the defense was strong with big saves and key blocks in order to preserve the one-goal lead. Maryland wasn’t without their chances, but weren’t able to get an insurance goal for most of the period. After frantic chances in the last two minutes, Kaleb Tiessen picks up a rebound at his own net and sends it into the yawning cage for the 5-3 lead and victory to split the weekend.
Maryland is off next weekend, but stay at home February 10th and 11th to take on Maine for their last match-up of the regular season against each other. Head to Tickets.MarylandBlackBears.com to secure your seats
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