JOHNSTOWN, PA– Following two straight weekend sweeps, the Maryland Black Bears were looking to continue the winning ways traveling up to Johnstown. The good times kept rolling with two big wins against Johnstown to sweep the weekend and maintain first place in the East Division.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 17th, 2025: BLACK BEARS (5) at Johnstown (1): Fireworks started early with Logan Deuling and Jacob Ingstrup getting into it in the first 90 seconds with Deuling getting the decision. Maryland started to tilt the ice in their direction working the puck around the zone and creating chances. The Black Bears got a power play towards the middle of the frame with Trey Hinton netting his fifth of the year off a rebound from a Sam Osei shot to make it 1-0. The Black Bears continued to pressure the Johnstown net, but couldn’t find the back of it for the rest of the 20 minutes. With under a minute remaining, Johnstown knotted the game up with Jack Genovese scoring off a pinballing puck in the slot to level the game going into the first intermission.
The penalty woes struck Maryland early in the frame, as they went down by two players in the first few minutes, but the penalty kill stayed stellar and got the Black Bears out of trouble. Johnstown still kept the ice tilted in their favor, but the Black Bears defense limited the shot against Dom Gatto. After the media timeout, the Black Bears started to get their offensive swagger back, as Tanner Duncan lit the lamp with a snipe of a shot that banked off the Johnstown goalie’s helmet and into the net. Moments later, Josh Frenette looked to have another goal for Maryland, but after a conference, the referees waved it off with no reason given. A minute later, Jaden Sikura made it count and put the Black Bears up 3-1 for real with a great shot from the slot with a Harrison Smith screen in front to get the goal back and put Maryland up going into the second intermission.
Things were back and forth at the start of the third period, but the Black Bears turned it on towards the middle of the frame as Deuling got his first NAHL goal redirecting a Duncan shot to make it 4-1. Not long after that, Brayden Wade got in on the goal scoring, as he took the puck off the half-wall and ripped a shot from the faceoff dot through the goalie to make it 5-1. The Black Bears defense then did their work, keeping Johnstown to the outside and securing the 5-1 win on Friday night.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 18th, 2025: BLACK BEARS (6) at Johnstown (3): A frantic first period to kick off the game as Brady Anes batted home his first NAHL goal after banking it off the Johnstown goalie to make it 1-0 Maryland 2:32 into the game. Johnstown tied it up less than a minute later with Emerson Marshall cutting to the crease and beating Ryan Denes. Only 26 seconds later, Josh Frenette got Maryland ahead again, picking up the puck in the slot, spinning, and firing home his third to make it 2-1. Johnstown tied it up again, as a missed clear led to Marshall’s second goal of the night from the slot. The Black Bears got into penalty trouble after that, but were able to ride the penalty kill to no harm. With 2:46 remaining, Tanner Duncan picked off a clearing attempt and passed to Mate Tardi to hammer home his fourth of the year to put Maryland up 3-2 going into the intermission.
Maryland got a quick start with Victor Mannebratt making a home run pass to Josh Frenette and Frenette sniped glove side to make 4-2 only 2:15 into the second. Penalty issues continued to plague the Black Bears and it would eventually bite them with Nick Jarmain finding the back of the net on the far side to make it 4-3 past the midway point. Tensions were high and each side took their own amount of penalties. During a delayed call, Maryland would get their two-goal lead back with Victor Mannebratt firing home a wrister from the point to make 5-3 with 1:03 left, giving the Black Bears the lead into the second intermission.
The third period was rather tame, all things considered. Each team had only one penalty, but the shots on either side were limited between the sides. Maryland was able to cash in on the empty netter with Josh Frenette finalized his hat trick, the 14th in Black Bears history.
WEEKEND NOTES: The Black Bears won their seventh straight game, tying a team record that happened twice before from April 2nd to April 23rd, 2021 and October 28 to November 18th, 2022…Dom Gatto made 13 saves on Friday and Ryan Denes made 27 saves Saturday…Harrison Smith extended his point-streak to 10 games, tying a franchise record with Wilmer Skoog and Ryan Bottrill.
The Black Bears are back home for a Tuesday morning match-up against Philadelphia, then home against Johnstown the following weekend. Tickets are available at Tickets.MarylandBlackBears.com or the Piney Orchard box office.
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