It was a close game between the Johnstown Tomahawks and the Maryland Black Bears, as Pooley’s goal in the final minutes led the Black Bears to a 3-2 win. This time the last minute heroics came from Johnstown’s Cam Hebert, who put the Tomahawks up 5-4 with 58.6 seconds to go. This score would go on to be the final as the Tomahawks reclaim sole possession of first place in the East Division.
The scoring opened with Joey Baez for Johnstown, burying the puck in the slot for a 1-0 Tomahawks lead. The Black Bears were able to tie it up mid way through the first period. On the power play, Matteo Menotti sent the puck on goal and Cameron Teamor pinched in from the point to roof the game tying goal behind Tomahawks goalie Carter McPhail.
Maryland took its first lead of the night on the power play, where Teamor sent a pass across to Daylon Mannon for a one time shot that found the back of the net. Johnstown responded with a one time goal of its own, as Samuel Solensky sent the puck across to Sean Bauchens who tied the game 2-2.
Lukas Ljungblom retook the lead for Maryland, burying a Menotti pass from behind the net into an empty cage behind McPhail. Black Bears’ captain Quin Warmuth then threw the puck on net through a screen and it found the back of the net to increase the lead to 4-2. Before the period ended, Cam Hebert tapped in another Solensky pass for Johnstown at the end of a power play to make it 4-3. The exciting second period concluded with a fight between Johnstown’s Mitchell Hale and Maryland’s Jake Sujishi at center ice.
Samuel Solensky worked his magic once again to tie the score at 4-4 midway through the third. He faked the shot high, then slid it five hole on Black Bears’ goalie David Tomeo for his third goal and fifth point of the series. It was a back and forth period from there until the final minute. Johnstown’s Oliver Benwell got the puck in the Maryland zone, held it, then tossed it towards the goal where Cam Hebert was able to tip the puck passed Tomeo to give the Tomahawks a 5-4 lead with just 58.6 seconds to go. The Black Bears failed to tie the game and dropped the game by the final score of 5-4.
Johnstown, with the win, improves to 8-4-0 as Maryland drops to 4-5-3. The Black Bears next tangle with the Jamestown Rebels at Piney Orchard Ice Arena on Friday, October 19th. Puck drop will be at 7:45 P.M. ET as Maryland looks for its fifth win of the season.
