The Maryland Black Bears lost to the WBS Knights Sunday afternoon 6-3. The loss completed the weekend sweep for the Knights and gave them some much-needed breathing room as the third seed in the East Division of the North American Hockey League (NAHL). The Black Bears remain in fourth place; however, the Jamestown Rebels are now tied with Maryland in points and the Maine Nordiques only trail them by one.

The first period set the tempo for the WBS Knights. Spencer King scored less than two minutes after the puck drop with assists from Christopher Rubenach and Anthony Mastromonica. The Knights continued their control of the second period with a strike from Shane Murphy. The first twenty ended with a 2-0 Wilkes-Barre lead.

Maryland Black Bears Forward, Andrew Remer, came out firing in the second. Less than one minute in, he found the back of the net with help from Luke Mountain and Jack Smiley. The strike cut the Knights lead in half with a 2-1 tally. Thirty seconds later, the Knights responded. Johnny Kaljian lit the lamp to establish a two-goal lead once again. Remer of the Black Bears had no intension of backing down. The Black Bear Forward converted his second goal of the game with assists from Jackson Sterrett and Jack Hillman to make it 3-2.

The back and forth continued in this wild second period. Anthony Mastromonica, Knights Forward, scored to pad their lead to 4-2. The final goal of the period came from the Black Bears and hat-trick phenom, Brayden Stannard. Stannard’s goal was assisted by Jude Kurtas and Jackson Sterrett. The Black Bears finished the period trailing by one goal, 4-3.

The third period sucked up any hope for the Black Bears completing their comeback efforts. Johnny Kaljian of Wilkes-Berre scored his second goal of the game to extend their lead to 5-3. The game ended on an empty-netter from Tyone Bronte to seal the deal and lock in a final score of 6-3.

The Maryland Black Bears return home to play a critical series full of NAHL playoff implications against the Jamestown Rebels on Friday (2/28, 7:00 PM) and Saturday night. (2/29, 7:45 PM).