BLAINE, MN– To close out the Showcase, the Maryland Black Bears took on the Bismarck Bobcats, who are the defending Robertson Cup champions. In a spirited affair, the Black Bears scored four unanswered goals to win 4-1 and close out the Showcase with five of six points.
In the early going, Maryland was pressuring the offensive zone, but couldn’t find the back of the net in the early going. Things got a little bit chippy, as both teams were feeling the last day of Showcase and were getting familiar early with each other. Towards the midway point, Maryland had trouble getting it out of their defensive zone, leading to Frantisek Broz finding the back of the net to make it 1-0 Bismarck. The Black Bears shook that off and continued their attack on net. With penalties on both sides, Maryland ended up with a power play, leading to Liam Doherty loading a shot from the point that went through layers of screens before finding the back of the net to tie the game up at one. Maryland looked for the go-ahead goal, but couldn’t find it before the end of the period.
Maryland started on the power play early, but didn’t cash in on the power play, but kept the pressure going resulting in Owen Drury redirecting a shot in front to make it 2-1 for Maryland. After that, penalty issues struck Maryland, but the penalty kill and Ryan Denes kept Bismarck at bay and were able to kill off the threats. Things continued to be dicey and hard-hitting, but it resulted in an injury to Trey Hinton, who needed to be helped off the ice late in the second and would not return. At the end of the period, the Black Bears were up 2-1.
Maryland went on an early power play and finally found daylight with Jonathan Lanza putting a shot through a screen to find the back of the net to make it 3-1. The penalty kill went to work right after, able to kill off another penalty and not allow Bismarck to set-up in the zone. The Black Bears worked the pace through the zone to make sure that Bismarck couldn’t get any kind of sustained pressure. Late in the game, Bismarck tried to pull their goalie, but Tanner Duncan picked off the puck and put it into the open net before the goalie could get back into the cage to make it 4-1 and give the Black Bears five out of a possible six points on the weekend.
NOTES: The Black Bears have won two games each of the seven NAHL Showcases they’ve played in…Maryland avenges their loss to Bismarck in their first Showcase in 2018.
The Black Bears are on the road next weekend, as they take on Maine Friday and Saturday. All action is on NAHL TV with watch parties at Chesepiooc Real Ale Brewery in Crofton.
Clutch And Crab Hockey 