ODENTON, MD – Despite a strong effort to comeback from an early deficit, the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks (9-32-3-0, 21 pts) fell 5-2 to the Maryland Black Bears (26-13-5-3, 60 pts) on Friday night.
Maryland came out firing, scoring the first four goals of the contest. The Black Bears had two stretches of two goals in quick-succession. The first pair was scored 38 seconds apart early in the first and the second pair of goals were separated by 20 seconds late in the first.
The Hat Tricks answered 3:36 into the second with Gabe Dombrowski’s team-leading 18th goal of the season. Hunter Young (10) and Boris Skalos (15) picked up assists on the power-play tally.
At 10:02 of the second, Luka Sukovic (8) scored a breakaway-goal on a setup by Richard Davis (2) and Peter Lychnikoff (16).
Just after Sukovic’s goal, the Hat Tricks were tasked with a five-minute major penalty kill. Danbury successfully killed the penalty, but Maryland added its fifth goal of the night just after the penalty expired.
In the third period, Danbury couldn’t convert on an early power-play. Despite a few chances late in the third, the Hat Tricks couldn’t muster any more offense on Friday night.
The Hat Tricks and Black Bears will finish off their series on Saturday at 7 p.m. That game will be available to stream on HockeyTV.