FAIRPORT, NY– In their first divisional road trip of the year, the Maryland Black Bears went up to northwestern New York to take on the Rochester Jr. Americans. While Friday night didn’t provide the desired results, a four goal outburst in 4:28 at the end of the second period provided the offense needed to preserve a split for the Black Bears
FRIDAY OCTOBER 11th, 2024: BLACK BEARS (0) at Rochester (2): The forechecking for the Black Bears was solid to start, putting pressure on the Rochester defensemen and creating turnovers for solid scoring chances. However, those chances didn’t register anything behind Danick Leroux in the first part of the period. Rochester created chances in the middle part of the frame, thanks to some Maryland penalties, but Benji Motew stayed strong in net to keep the sheet scoreless. It wasn’t until late in the period when Rochester would capitalize on a power play with Hugo Branthsson getting a set-up at the side of the net and put it home for his fifth of the season to give Rochester the lead heading into the first intermission.
Maryland was in the box early in the second, but were able to kill it off and even created a chance late, but captain Tyler Stern rang his shot off the post. Rochester would continue to keep up their pressure and their forecheck would create the second goal, as Branthsson got a loose puck off the boards and cut in front of the net to beat Motew for a 2-0 Rochester lead. The Black Bears offense started to get going after that, with Dylan Gordon ringing the post and some bang-bang plays off rebounds, but still couldn’t light the lamp, going into the third down 2-0.
Starting with a power play, the Black Bears looked to dig out of the hole they were in. While they had a decent amount of chances, they still had issues finding the back of the net. The penalty kill had to kill off another penalty midway through the frame to keep the Black Bears within striking distance. In the end, try as they might, the Black Bears came up short and were shutout for the second time this season.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 12th, 2024: BLACK BEARS (4) at Rochester (3): Trying to right the wrongs from Friday, Maryland got some solid offensive zone time early, creating some chances down low, but couldn’t light the lamp. Rochester got on the board first, as Jordin Palmer was camped out at the top of the crease and tapped in a shot-pass from the side boards to give Rochester the 1-0 lead. Maryland would get into penalty trouble later in the period, but the penalty kill stood tall to keep the score 1-0 after 20 minutes.
The Black Bears had to call on their PK again in the early part of the second period due to penalties and they were able to hold down the fort to keep it at 1-0. After a Tommy Holtby fight with Gabriel Cull, the Black Bears got a little spike in their engines and used the second part of the period as their own. It started with Isac Nielsen getting a solid pass from newcomer Victor Mannebratt and Nielsen lasered it over Florian Wade’s shoulder to tie the game up. Only 23 seconds later, Sebastien Brockman gave Maryland the lead after he grabbed a loose puck in the slot and fired it home for his first of the year to make it 2-1 Black Bears. Only 1:08 after that, Nielsen got his second on the power play putting home a Harrison Smith pass to make it 3-1. To close out the flurry, Luke Rubin gets on the board, picking up his own rebound and putting it home to give the Black Bears a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes.
After an early power play was thwarted for Maryland, Rochester halved the lead during four-on-four play as Jayden Dyke ripped home a shot through traffic to make 4-2. Rochester would tally a power play goal towards the middle of the frame with Adam Gionta picking up the tally to make it a one-goal Maryland lead. However, Benji Motew and the Black Bears defense were able to keep the rest of the Rochester pressure at bay and leave western New York with a split on the weekend.
The Black Bears are back home this weekend, as Maine comes back into town. Head to Tickets.MarylandBlackBears.com for info on how to get into the rink and join in on all the Halloween goodness that will be at Piney Orchard.
Clutch And Crab Hockey 