After a heartbreaking nine round shootout loss to the Maine Nordiques the day before, the Maryland Black Bears looked to bounce back against the top team in the East Division of the North American Hockey League. With the help of team captain Luke Mountain and debuting goalie Hannes Kollen, Maryland did just that with a 4-1 win over Maine.

Luke Mountain struck first for the Black Bears just over two minutes into the first period to make it 1-0. Teammate Josh Waters took advantage of a bad defensive read by Maine and took the puck down the ice on a two-on-one with Mountain. Mountain was able to get the pass from waters and fire the puck five hole on Nordiques’ goalie Avery Sturtz for the lead. Maine responded with a goal from defenseman Luke Antonacci to tie the game 1-1 with a wrist shot from the top of the far circle.

Luke Mountain struck again for Maryland to make it 2-1after Josh Waters fed Mountain in the high slot for a wrist shot goal. Mountain completed the hat trick just over five minutes later, stealing the puck from a Nordiques’ defenseman and scoring on a wrist shot from the near circle to make it 3-1 Black Bears. Maryland forward Aden Bruich scored on a two-on-one with Jude Kurtas to make it 4-1 to complete the scoring. In his Black Bear debut, goalie Hannes Kollen made over 35 saves to help Maryland secure the 4-1 win.

The Black Bears return to the ice next week against the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks at Ice World with dates and times to be determined.