Maryland vs. Johnstown: This Weekend's Series Preview

To say the Maryland Black Bears have been playing well as of late would be putting it lightly. With a five-game win streak ongoing, along with an 8-1-1 record over their last ten games, the Black Bears have been a force to be reckoned with. The Maryland offense has woken up in that span, scoring 42 goals in those ten games. After sweeping aside the Elmira Aviators, the Black Bears welcome the Johnstown Tomahawks to town, who have a 20-18-3 record with 43 points and sit fifth in the East Division.

The Maryland Black Bears flexed their muscles when they took down the Elmira Aviators this past weekend. Night one, though, got off to an up-and-down start. Maryland struck three times in the first period, with forwards Luke Janus and Tyler Stern making it 2-0 just 1:06 into the game. Janus’ opening goal puts him at the top of the team leaderboard for fish toss goals with his third of the season. Later in the period, Black Bears forward Harrison Smith made a smooth move to the net and deked the goaltender for a 3-0 lead. Elmira would fight back, however, scoring a goal in the last half of the first period followed by two goals to start the second period to see the game tied at 3-3. Maryland would regain the lead with a rebound goal from forward Sebastian Speck to make it 4-3 with 2:35 to go in the second period. The third period was all Maryland, as forwards Isac Nielsen, Tyler Stern and Thomas Holtby all scored in a span of two minutes and 38 seconds to put the game away with the final score of 7-3. Black Bears goaltender Marko Bilic made 17 saves in the win.

The following night was OLD BAY ® night, with the Maryland Black Bears dawning their custom OLD BAY ® jerseys designed by Route One Apparel. And fittingly, it was a spicy night on the ice. The Black Bears started the scoring in the first period with defenseman Mason Stenger scoring to make it 1-0 off a snap shot from the slot. As the game went on, the physical play increased. This further escalated in the second period where Smith and Janus both scored their second goals of the weekend to make the score 3-0 and forward Riley Fast scoring a shorthanded breakaway goal with 3.6 seconds left in the period to make it 4-0. The period saw a lot of shoving matches after the whistle and a few big hits during play. Emotions finally boiled over in the third period where two fights broke out in a matter of seconds. Maryland defenseman Sebastien Brockman took down Elmira forward Charlie Vincent before Black Bears forward Tommy Holtby dropped Aviators defenseman Chase Murray after Murray issued the challenge. Bilic made 24 saves for Maryland in the shutout win.

The Johnstown Tomahawks head to Piney Orchard Ice Arena winners of three straight games, continuing their success with a sweep of the New Jersey Titans last weekend. Game one started off with a first period goal from defenseman Sean Morgan to make it 1-0. The second period saw the Titans strike twice for a 2-1 lead, only for Tomahawks forward Nick White to tie the game in the final four minutes. Johnstown, much like Maryland did in night one of their match-ups, put the game away on a three-goal third period with forwards Adam Csabi, Nick Jarmain and Charlie Zetterkvist scoring to secure a 5-2 win. Tomahawks goaltender Zach Ferris made 28 saves in the win. Night two was lower scoring but still saw a strong start from Johnstown. They got a first period goal from forward Cullen Emery and a second period goal from forward Markas Samenas to make it 2-0 Tomahawks heading into the third period. New Jersey was able to break Ferris’ shutout bid late in the third, but Johnstown forward Nick White iced the game with an empty net goal to make it 3-1. Ferris made 22 saves in the win.

Despite Maryland’s overall successful season, Johnstown has the edge in the season series with a 3-1-0 record over the Black Bears. The Tomahawks swept Maryland when they visited Johnstown in mid-November, and two weeks later the two teams exchanged 4-1 wins against each other in a two-game set in Maryland. The Black Bears hope to use their recent success to try and flip the script this weekend.

Players To Watch:

Caden Olenczak (D, JTN): The offense benefits greatly when a team has a defenseman who can drive the offense and help produce goals. That is exactly what Olenczak has been doing for the past month, recording two goals and three assists for five points in his last five games. He recorded one assist in the sweep of New Jersey last weekend.

Marko Bilic (G, MYD): Bilic came in and immediately made an impact in between the pipes, putting up a 3-0-0 record in his first three starts. This record is accompanied by a .9206 save percentage, 1.667 goals against average, and one shutout.

Maryland and Johnstown face off on Friday, February 7th, and Saturday, January 8th, at Piney Orchard Ice Arena with puck drop times slated for 7:30 p.m. ET. All games can be streamed on NAHLTV. Standing-room tickets are still available for these two games.