Black Bears Will Try to Chop Red Hot Tomahawks
November 13, 2024 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Maryland Black Bears News Release
After splitting a home set with the Rochester Jr. Americans, the Maryland Black Bears hit the road for four straight games. The team's first stop will be at 1st Summit Arena in Johnstown, PA, where the Black Bears will meet the Johnstown Tomahawks for the first time this season. Maryland and Johnstown faced each other eight times last season, with the Black Bears winning five of the eight contests.
Last weekend, Maryland took game one over Rochester by the score of 3-2 in a back-and-forth affair. Maryland responded to 1-0 and 2-1 deficits with goals from forward Kareem El-Bashir and defenseman Victor Mannebratt to see the score at 2-2 heading into the third period. In the third period, Jr. Americans defenseman Demitri Diflorio threw a knee-on-knee hit in the neutral zone, resulting in a five-minute major penalty that would prove costly. On an odd-man rush during the final minutes of the power play, it was Mannebratt scoring again on a rebound as he crashed the net to put Maryland ahead for good 3-2. Black Bears' goaltender Benji Motew shined again for Maryland, recording 30 saves in the win. Game two would not be as friendly to Maryland as Rochester grabbed the lead early and never looked back. Despite a strong offensive effort that saw the Black Bears put up 37 shots, only one beat Jr. Americans' goalie Florian Wade. With the net empty down 3-0, El-Bashir recorded his second goal of the weekend, tipping home a pass from forward Harrison Smith in the slot to cut the deficit to 3-1. Maryland kept the pressure up but ended up falling 4-1 after the Jr. Americans' empty net goal.
The Johnstown Tomahawks had a rough start to the season, going 2-8-1 in its first 11 games. However, the Tomahawks turned it around by going on a 6-1-1 run over its last eight games. Over that stretch, the offense recorded four or more goals in six of the eight games. This past weekend, Johnstown split a two-game set with the Northeast Generals. After falling 4-1 in game one, Johnstown would exact revenge in game two. Headed into the final minutes of the third period down 4-3, forward Charlie Zetterkvist scored his second goal of the weekend with 2:04 to go in the game to tie the score at 4-4. In overtime, it was forward Cullen Emery scoring the game-winning goal for a 5-4 win.
Players to Watch:
Charlie Zetterkvist (F, JTN): Zetterkvist joined the Tomahawks in late October and has made an instant impact, recording points in four of his first six games with the franchise. Zetterkvist is riding a two-game goal streak after scoring the lone goal in Johnstown's 4-1 loss and the game-tying goal in the 5-4 overtime win to Northeast.
Harrison Smith (F, MYD): Smith has been a play making-phenom for Maryland this season, as his 17 assists sees him tied for sixth in the NAHL in assists. Smith has recorded five assists in the last three games and has at least one assist in six of his last nine games.
Puck drop times for this week are 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, November 15th, and 5:00 p.m. ET, on Saturday, November 16th at 1st Summit Arena. All games can be streamed on NAHLTV.
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