Fans at Piney Orchard Ice Arena haven’t seen a home sweep since Thanksgiving weekend when Maryland trounced Danbury. The Black Bears decided to change that on Saturday night when they took the ice against the Johnstown Tomahawks. Despite trailing 3-2, Maryland came back to win 4-3 with a two goal second period. 

The Tomahawks got the scoring started with a goal from forward Jack Genovese on a wrist shot to make it 1-0. Later in the first period, Maryland got a two-on-one rush when forward Brayden Wade called his own number and let a wrist shot top left corner past Johnstown goaltender Zach Ferris to tie the game at 1-1. In the second period, Black Bears defenseman Liam Doherty gave Maryland a 2-1 lead with a wrist shot from the high slot. However, the Black Bears got into penalty trouble and allowed two power play goals to forward Nick Metelkin and defenseman Jack Sullivan to give the Tomahawks a 3-2 lead heading into the third period.

Maryland responded quickly in the third period, with forward Jaden Sikura deflecting a point shot from defenseman William Esterbrooks to tie the game at 3-3. Less than four minutes later, forward Tanner Duncan scored on a one-time slap shot to give the Black Bears a 4-3 lead. Maryland goaltender Dom Gatto made a few big saves in the final minutes to secure a 4-3 Black Bears win. Gatto and Ferris both made 17 saves for their respective teams.

Maryland takes the ice again for a series against the Northeast Generals on Friday, February 13th, at Piney Orchard Ice Arena, with puck drop scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. All games can be streamed on NATV.