The Maryland Black Bears defeated the WBS-Knights, 7-3 Friday night. This was the first matchup between the two NAHL East Division foes of the 2019-20 season. Their last meeting featured a large portion of Black Bear Nation traveling to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the final game of the Black Bears’ Inaugural Season.
Throughout the first period, the Black Bears put their powerful, high octane offense on display by scoring four unanswered goals to start the game. Black Bears Defenseman, Anthony Mollica was the first to light the lamp with an assist from Jackson Sterrett on a power-play goal. Seconds later, Black Bears Forward Jackson Sterrett scored a goal of his own with a Brayden Stannard setup. After a Knights penalty, Mollica scored on the power play for his second goal of the game with assists from Jackson Sterrett and Wilmer Skoog. Logan Kons, who looked great at the NAHL Showcase, scored his third goal of the year with an assist from Logan Kittleson. The 4-0 Black Bears bombardment was finally answered by the Knights toward the end of the quarter by Anthony Mastromonica with help from Zak Currie and Nikita Asylaev.
After only thirty seconds into the second period, Black Bears Forward Luke Mountain scored his first goal of the season with an assist from Logan Kittleson to make it 5-1. Black Bears Forward Wilmer Skoog further extended the lead to 6-1 in the middle of the period with a beautiful toe-drag wrist shot. Once again, Knights Forward Anthony Mastromonica scored to end the period with assists from Mike Manzo and Zak Currie.
The third period started with a Wiles-Barre/Scranton goal from Mike Manzo assisted by Liam Haslam. Jackson Sterrett finished the Black Bears scoring efforts for the night with his second goal of the game off an assist from Ethan Heidepriem.
Although the offensive domination by the Black Bears was tonight’s headline, the physicality of the Black Bears was constant and helped set the tone for the game. Maryland’s goalie, Cooper Black, played very well in net and secured his third victory of the season.
The Maryland Black Bears will look to sweep the WBS Knights tomorrow afternoon (9/28) at 3:00 PM in the Revolution Ice Centre for game and final game of the series.
