NAHL

Black Bears Season in Review: Making the First Team

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Photo: Jon Pitonzo/FOHS Media Faction

Yesterday, I mentioned the community the team built off the ice, especially when the product on the ice was going through some growing pains. Politicians and car salesmen may lie– but numbers never do. Second to last in wins, points, and goal differential. The goals-for and power play was 22nd in the league, the goals-against and penalty kill was last in the league. Defensive zone play was a little shaky with turnovers on breakout attempts, holding the puck too long, or not being able to adapt to a strong forecheck. The growing pains of a first year team.

It wasn’t for a lack of trying, however, as GM and head coach Clint Mylymok did what he could with a team that didn’t have previous experience playing alongside each other. Like most other expansion teams, there’s going to be hiccups when it comes to chemistry and the fact that they had 46 players play in a Black Bears uniform this season also stifles the chemistry of a team. Whether it be due to injury, trades, performances, or otherwise– with a roster in constant flux, hard to have a consistent performance with the shake-ups.

The team started to be built by acquiring Carter Wade and Luke Posner from the Kenai River Brown Bears before the NAHL Draft. In that draft, they went after a USHL player in Steven Agriogianis, though he would never suit up for the team. While Agriogianis didn’t play, plenty of players picked in that draft did don the red, yellow, and black. The likes of Patrick Choi, Luc Salem, Max Borst, Luke Mountain, Marek Wazny, and Thomas Jarman all got selected and played a big role in the first season. Of course, Choi and original captain Quinn Warmuth got traded to bring in Kyle Oleksiuk (EDIT: I wrongly put Christian Brune in the original. Thanks to Colin from the Black Bears for noticing my mistake), but Choi and Warmuth were big part of the first season the time they were there.

However, this was a team that looked solid for a first-year squad in the first few months. They were in a playoff spot for a decent amount of time and were in the hunt until about January, even after going 2-7-1 in November where they played the juggernaut of the Johnstown Tomahawks several times. Even in the last three months where the wins were few and far between– guys came out to play, the new additions were contributing in a big way, while the young players who will be the core for the future got a chance to acclimate themselves to the NAHL style of play.

Everyone played their role, though. I don’t think there were many guys who were passengers on the ride. Everyone had to adapt to the injuries. Hell, the last couple weekends, the team only had four natural defensemen in the line-up with Wazny going back to the point. Mountain turned it on late in the season with eight points (4g, 4a) in his last six games, 25 (6g, 19a) of Jonathan Young’s 36 points came in the 2019 calendar year (27 games). Borst became the go-to guy for the penalty with, racking up three short-handed goals which is tied for third in the entire NAHL. Lest we forget about Connor Pooley (6PPG, 7PPA) and Daylon Mannon’s (5PPG, 5PPA) power play prowess.

In net, it was a mixed bag to start, with projected starter Benjamin Beck being injured, leaving David Tomeo and Tyler Matthews to start the season. Of the two, Tomeo stood out in a big way, really keeping the Black Bears into some games they probably shouldn’t have been. Beck came back, but didn’t live up to expectation and Tomeo took back his spot in net. While his numbers didn’t show it (9-21-6, 1 SO, 3.60 GAA, .901SV%), Tomeo was an anchor in net and then slowly became a mentor to the likes of Andrew Takacs and Anthony Del Tufo later on in the season.

Speaking of Del Tufo, he was one of the many players that came  from Team Maryland and the Mercer Chiefs pipeline and were given opportunities to see if they could make it on the NAHL level. Anthony Del Tufo became part of the tandem with Tomeo later in the season, while standing out amongst the Team Maryland alumni. Connor Redden, Mac Brice, Isaac Mbereko, and Jakub Hasek are others who moved across the dressing rooms from the Team Maryland camp to the Black Bears side; while Jude Kurtas impressed in his short tenure with the Black Bears after playing with the Mercer Chiefs 18U, while Maryland native George Vonakis came up from the EHL’s Philadelphia Jr. Flyers to secure a spot on the team.

Granted, the 16-37-5-2 record isn’t what they wanted and having to end their seasons early wasn’t probably in their plans either– but it probably also wasn’t unexpected for the inaugural club; the Vegas Golden Knights probably stole a lot of that good karma for first year clubs. Yet, it could have been worse and they were in it for a while. It’s a good building block for the years to come and if they can keep even 50% of this team for next season, they’ll be better off for it and continue to grow because of it.

Black Bears Year in Review: Building a Community

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Photo: Jon Pitonzo/FOHS Media Faction

The Maryland Black Bears season ended on Saturday much the way their first series of the season ended– with an overtime loss but one that was a thriller. While their record wasn’t the best thing to write home about, the first season of the Black Bears could be considered somewhat of a success off the ice, while the on-ice product does need just a bit of work.

One of the biggest things for an expansion team is building a fan base, building something that will stick and reside with the community. Junior hockey is nothing if there’s no community to stick by it and support it. Through going to the games, the billets who house these out of town players and make them feel comfortable in their experience. It’s also about the ownership and front office being embedded in the community and wanting to grow the team, but also help the area as a whole be better.

The season had plenty of exciting moments to it, with some ups, some downs, and some sideways. From Marek Wazny’s getting the franchise’s first goal three minutes into the first game or Luke Mountain’s late tying goal this past weekend to end the season, there was a lot to talk about. There were viral videos of celebrations, highlight reel goals and saves, and a community built around the area from virtually nothing.

For me, that’s what sticks out amongst this whole season. Later this week, I’ll get to the actual on-ice product, but the fact that for an area that’s not recognized as much as a hockey heavy area– the people turned out to Piney Orchard and the hockey community was brought out in force. The biggest thing the Black Bears did was get the surrounding youth hockey clubs involved. They didn’t just keep to the Nelson Hockey club, but branched out to Bowie, Howard, Baltimore, and more teams from the area. It truly made it feel like the different club teams were united by one common thread in the Black Bears.

To build this fan-base up from scratch in as little time as they did it is truly something and shows that word-of-mouth worked out for people. Maryland closed out the season with a total attendance of 11,118 for 30 home games, which works out to an average of 373 for each game– which may not seem like much; but it ranked them at third in the East Division and for a rink where the capacity is around the 350 mark (I can’t find the “official” capacity), it’s a great turnout.

The team also got it right with having entertainment between the hockey action with some solid intermission happenings, great in-period participation, as well as the fish toss after the first goal and the staple chuck-a-puck after the game. Obviously, the in-game entertainment is as crucial as the game itself for people experiencing the event. They checked all the boxes for what was needed for this team to get people talking about and get some coverage for the team in the community and grow it more.

But from the first series to the last series and all in between, the Black Bears created much more for the state of Maryland when it comes to hockey than just wins and losses. It bonded together a community that usually just stuck to their own areas of the state. It brought together fans and gave them some decent hockey to watch while giving the youth players something to aspire to when it comes to growing their own game trying to get to the NAHL level.

What is Happening With Maryland Hockey??

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Photo by Jon Pitonzo/FOHS Media Faction

A few days back, an account on Twitter popped up by the handle of @marylandjunior1 and the display name of “Maryland Junior Bears Hockey.” In their tweets, the account is showing photos and video of Piney Orchard Ice Arena and talking about the “future of hockey is here.”

I’ll go on record saying I have no insider information to this, but my belief in all of this is that the EHL Team Maryland squad is about to be rebranded as the Maryland Junior Bears. This would make sense, as there are other teams in the NAHL– specificially the Northeast Generals and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights– that have their feeder teams named exactly like their NAHL teams.

It would also make sense, as the Team Maryland EHL team has only three active players who are actually from Maryland: Marcelo Palacios, Antoino Briggs-Blake, and Zach Richards. I’ve squawked about it on the Chesapeake Hockey Week that if you’re going to go by Team Maryland, I feel that the majority of the players should be from Maryland. In talking with owner Murry Gunty– the goal is to have players from the DMV to heavily populate the roster, but so far it hasn’t been the case. To rebranded it would give a little less emphasis on the Maryland part, but actually give the Black Bears (or Bears in this case) a little more clout because the players are being promoted from the Junior Bears to the Black Bears.

Of course, this could be a whole other situation, where the Maryland Black Bears will be having a youth program that will be akin to what teams in the area have where there’s U8 to U16 programs to be going around. That’s not a far-fetched idea, but it would make ice time a little more congested for Piney Orchard, even with the second sheet of ice going up in the near future. It could be any number of things with the vagueness that’s going onward.

With all that said, the biggest thing is that highly-competitive youth hockey is going on in Maryland beyond the Chesapeake Bay Hockey League and high school hockey. In fact, with these additions to the area, you can bet that the players in the area will have closer vision of what they can achieve and the heights they are able to get to without really having to leave home for the opportunity to get noticed. It would keep the talent in region, while also making it a destination for players starting out to get a look into what their future could be like.

Until the final word– we’ll speculate, though with Team Maryland’s season ending these next two days; I’m sure we’ll find out sooner rather than later if my hypothesis is right about the rebranding.

Two Games In, Black Bears Showing Growth

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Photo by Jonathan Pitonzo/FOHS Media Faction

The results on the scoreboard weren’t what they would have wanted, but overall– the first weekend of the Maryland Black Bears was ultimately a success. A sold-out Piney Orchard Ice Arena on Friday night brought about all the pomp and circumstance for a team’s first game, while the second night showed what this team could be without the flare.

Sidebar: If you haven’t seen Jonny P’s photos from the weekend– check out the FOHS Media Faction Facebook page to see his great shots of the games.

The first night brought about a packed out, a big entrance, a lot of bells and whistles, though the outcome wasn’t what they wanted. Though Marek Wazny got the Black Bears on the board early, they couldn’t find a way to stymie Kyler Head and the rest of the New Jersey Titans. It was a rough go for Black Bears’ goalie David Tomeo, who let up five goals on 35 shots in a 6-3 Maryland loss. Friday was a shootout with 76 total shots and the nine total goals. You can bet nerves and dealing with the opening game was on the mind of the Black Bears. Not only that, but the rough side of the NAHL came out, especially at the end with Carter Wade and Cam Gendron getting in a fight in the middle of the third.

Saturday night showed a different side, a very shutdown side of the Black Bears, who put Tyler Matthews in net for the second game. They kept the Titans chances to a minimum and played a smarter game, though the Titans scored their only goal on the power play in overtime.

Overall though, you probably couldn’t ask for a better start from a team that was born only five months and two days before their first game. From April until now, it was a sprint to start the season for Murry Gunty and the rest of his team. As Jonny chronicles, Gunty was working every aspect possible off the ice in merchandise, media affairs, doing a whole lot of things to make sure they ran as smoothly as possible for the fans in attendance.

While Jonny said that it was noticeable change from one day to another, it seemed that everyone started to figure out what was going on Saturday, both on and off the ice. The PA announcer was able to get the crowd more into it, the team settled down after the first game, things started to move finally as one. As the season goes along, you can bet that things will continue to run more smoothly. It seemed that the game operations during intermissions were able to get people interacting more, the kids in attendance seemed to be well involved with Bruno the Bear, and it seemed like a great atmosphere for everyone who came out.

This franchise is really going to be a word-of-mouth situation for the start. With things coming so quickly, it could have been a little hard to get out into the community as much as they could, especially when the roster wasn’t set until days before opening night. However, from what I’ve heard– it was a great time. It’s a damn shame I’m in North Dakota or I’d make my way down there to experience things myself. Plus, it seems like a fun team to watch. Wazny, Wade, and Matteo Menotti are going to be favorites and ones to watch this season. While they won’t be back at Piney for about a month, they should be able to bond well on the road, especially with the four-day NAHL Showcase happening in Blaine, Minnesota this week.

Here’s to Murry Gunty, all of Black Bear Sports Group, coach Clint Mylymok, and the Black Bears players for giving the central Maryland area a team to call their own. It’s only two games, but it’s two games that many didn’t think would have happened so fast.

Seventeen Years Ago, It Started in a Garage

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In a garage in Lanham, Maryland- Broadcast Monsters Inc. had created their own, totally in-house hockey internet radio show out of the ashes of another hockey show. They had created shows for a year in a market of streaming media which was very untapped and created a format of “archived, on-demand streaming” which predated the podcast format and allowed people to not have to worry about appointment listening.

And on this date (August 8th) in 2001, the Face Off Hockey Show was born. It was supposed to be a hodge-podge debate show in the same vain as Pardon The Interruption, but it soon morphed into four friends getting together to talk about their life….and then occasionally hockey when it warranted.

Sure, I write something like this every year, but it still amazes me that we get another year older for this show that probably shouldn’t have been with everyone of the hosts moving locations a couple times for those years (which you can hear in our Patreon Extra Shows). For 17 years, we’ve been doing an average of a show a week– some weeks we have extra shows, some weeks someone is sick or technology gets the best of us and we don’t have one. Yet, since 2001– a month before the iPod came out– we started a show that’s still going today. Hell, it’s what gave me my most notoriety and allowed me to do what I’ve done since 2001.

This show has been with me for just under half my life. Hell, I haven’t been in a relationship as long as I’ve been on this show. Maybe that speaks more about me than my commitment to the show, but I digress. Even through all the moves– Marc’s on his 39th studio area and I’ve gone through two states and a province– we’ve still done this whole damn thing and made it work for two hours a week.

These past 17 years have been full of memorable moments, full of fun, full of debates, full of stupid shit that probably only makes us pop for ourselves. We’ve been able to get credentialed for NHL Events, NHL Parties, AHL, ECHL, NCAA, WHL, World Juniors– a whole helluva lot. However, it’s been tougher in recent years, as it seems those in the NHL Communications department doesn’t think we’re worthy enough on our own history to be credentialed under Face Off Hockey Show– this showing when I met someone in that department and when I mentioned who I did podcast for….they knew who I was, what the show was, and didn’t seem too pleased with either. But that only drives me more to get you to know our name and, as the kids say– put some respect on it.

It’s been awesome. But there’s still a lot to come from Face Off Hockey Show and the Face Off Hockey Show Media Faction. With the Media Faction, we’ve added the Soderstrom Bubble and will be adding a yet-to-be-named Maryland hockey podcast which will follow the NAHL’s Maryland Black Bears, all the club hockey teams, all the Marylanders in pro hockey, some of the high school stuff– and maybe add more stuff to our network; who knows. We’ve had a wrestling podcast just waiting for a while now– the stars just haven’t aligned.

For the people who have listened for a while or if their first show was a week ago– thank you. While we mostly do this show for ourselves because we like to talk to each other about hockey and see what everyone is up to– we also appreciate the friends we’ve made from the people who have listened to our insane podcast. We appreciate you though we may act like total asses about it.

Thanks to everyone who has listened, who might listen, or who have supported us without listening (Thanks Mama Wazz and Big Stan)– we appreciate it more than you know.

Here’s to another 17 years.

Black Bears Announce Inaugural Season Schedule

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The inaugural season of the Maryland Black Bears is inching closer, especially with the NAHL revealing the 2018-19 season schedule. The season for the Black Bears starts at home on September 14th and 15th against the New Jersey Titans at Piney Orchard.

The schedule can be found here on the NAHL website, but here’s a bit of a breakdown of the first year and who they’ll face:

  • There’s no Western swing for the Black Bears, as expected. The NAHL looks to keep travel costs down, therefore you won’t see Maryland really go over to play the Western Conference until the end of the season.
  • That is unless the Black Bears play some Western opponents at the NAHL Showcase–which doesn’t seem to be on the actual schedule. All the teams will play four regular season games from September 19th through the 22nd in Blaine, Minnesota at the Schwann Super Rink. I’m sure that schedule should be coming out if it hasn’t already and I’m just too stupid to find it.
  • In fact, the Black Bears will play exclusively in their division. They’ll face Johnstown 12 times, New Jersey 12 times, Northeast (Attleboro, MA) 12 times, Jamestown (NY) 12 times, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 8 times. This will breed a lot of familiarity with players and fans alike– which is either really good or really bad; but either way exciting.
  • While all the home games are being played at Piney Orchard, there is the weekend of January 11th and 12th where Maryland will play at Laurel Ice Gardens and Rockville Ice Arena respectively. That weekend, the Black Bears will take on the Johnstown Tomahawks in a way to show off the newest development team to other parts of Maryland hockey.

So there you have it– the Black Bears season is just two months away (get your season tickets here) and it’s a pretty exciting time for developmental hockey in Maryland. This program will be a solid start for hopefully a bigger impact for Marylanders in higher hockey.

The State of Wazz Address

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The State is Maryland….always has been, always will be.

In any case, it’s a new NHL season today since contracts for players only go to July 1st, really screwing over the broadcasters who have to cover this event in Canada on their Independence Day– but that’s the NHL for you. However, with a new year– probably time to give some kind of update about what will happen this upcoming season with regards to blogging, podcasting, and the like. New year, new me, right??

BLOGGING

Okay, so I took some kind of break because there’s not much to write about and there’s only so much John Tavares content people can bear. It’s been a fun time with the Capitals playoff run, but it won’t all be about the Caps and Maryland Black Bears– it’ll be a very heavy influence; but as the season goes on, I’ll get back to all the Tepid Takes and other “feature-esque” work that I’ve done in the past. It may be a little slow in the summer months (as it always is), but it’ll pick up from there I hope.

There’s a possibility I’ll do some minor league stories, but to be honest– I fell out of love with minor league hockey. It was something to try and reinvent myself for a bit and it worked for a while. Then things changed and I lost the passion for it. Maybe the bug will come back, but I really don’t think it’d be the same as it was during the FOHS Farm Report/The Sin Bin time. Interests changes, things happens, and you have to move on from something you’ve lost interest in if it’s completely a by-the-numbers role you’re playing.

There’s an off chance that there could be more NASCAR coverage, so if you’re into that– awesome; if not– that’s cool, too, but don’t get annoyed if it does happen. I mean, I do co-host a NASCAR podcast so….

PODCASTING

There’s not going to be major changes in the substance of the podcasts– let that be known. It’s just a matter for us as a whole to be better with the promoting and things like that. Expect Face Off Hockey Show and The Soderstrom Bubble to be more active promoting things overall. If we want to leave any kind of mark where we can’t be denied about our participation in big NHL events, this is the way to do it. We will hope that you help in that process for promoting stuff you like about our Media Faction. Even if it is talking about our Patreon to others to help offset costs and things like that for the show.

That said, there could be a new Untitled Podcast coming your way from the FOHSMF– that just depends on time, effort, and actually doing it. Stay tuned around early September for a decision on that.

In The Draft Show with Wilson and Wazz will continue on as normal– which I know you’re all happy about. Or not. I really don’t know the feeling about my readers and NASCAR.

OTHER LIFE THINGS

Aside from the whole “try to eat better and workout more” and other usually January 1st resolutions….there’s a project I’ve been collecting things for. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do, but just keep putting off and doubting myself in terms of what the response would be from it. It’s really just a matter of actually doing it– as it goes with most projects– so I’m going to try and be better with actually making that come to life.

And be a little more present in life and actually thriving in the moment. Yeah, it’s zen BS, but it’s my zen BS.

…and that’s what’s up. It’s the update you didn’t know you wanted and probably still don’t care much for. Such as life and it’s an outlook on what you can expect from me this summer and moving forward.

Black Bear Sports Group Makes More In-Roads, Buy Youngstown Phantoms

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Lost in the whole drunken debauchery of the Washington Capitals Stanley Cup victory, the Black Bears Sports Group made another impressive move. If nothing else, they could be the biggest movers and shakers of this offseason and it just barely begun. Not just for the expansion team in the NAHL being brought to Odenton– but this move is huge.

On Friday, Murry Gunty– the CEO of BBSG– and BBSG has purchased half of the ownership stake of the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL, buying the stake from former NHLer Troy Loney and his wife. Bruce Zoldan and his family will keep their half of the ownership, but Gunty made a move to put former NHLer Keith Primeau as vice-chairman of hockey operations.

If nothing else, BBSG has done a helluva job when it comes to building not only the brand across the mid-Atlantic, but also to make sure their NAHL team is going to be leading players to success. We mentioned earlier in the year about the Maryland Black Bears having a feeder system through Team Maryland and the Mercer Chiefs– but now they have a team that players can be fed to in the Phantoms. Maybe not directly, but will have a better chance to actually make the USHL in that situation and give more of the Black Bears a chance at trying out for the USHL.

This goes to show that when I spoke to Ryan Scott earlier that the BBSG is going to grow hockey in the mid-Atlantic (and now Ohio Valley) region and have a pipeline of talent be able to stay in and around the area rather than shuffle off to somewhere else. And to buy up the assets they are putting in their portfolio is a great way to grow the game, but to also make sure the players have a place to play and that people in the area have a place to go towards.

Now, how that translates on the ice remains to be scene. It’ll be a big task for them to make an expansion team successful on the ice and in the box office– but with the recent success of the Vegas Golden Knights, maybe they can take off that formula to create a success for all aspects of the team from the ice to the pay-window.

First Draft For Black Bears Yield Interesting Results

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The annual NAHL Draft happened on Tuesday and the Maryland Black Bears used it as a nice jumping off point for their franchise, selecting 13 players in the draft. The NAHL draft lasted 16 rounds, which means Maryland made the most of their time.

However, before the draft, they tendered two offers to two players out of the pre-draft camp in Matteo Menotti and Brady Lindauer. Menotti had 24 goals and 45 points in 29 games with the Minnesota Moose of the US Premier League. Menotti has also played seven games in the NAHL in the past two seasons between the Odessa Jackalopes and Minnesota Wilderness. Lindauer played in the NA3HL with the La Crosse Freeze, netting 48 assists and 64 points in only 34 games while also having seven games of NAHL time with the Coulee Region Chill.

With the first overall pick in the actual draft, the Black Bears picked Steve Agriogianis, who split time between Cedar Rapids, Omaha, and Central Illinois of the USHL last season. The interesting thing with this pick is that Agriogianis is supposed to join Penn State University this season, as well as attending camp with Central Illinois in the summer. This means Maryland is third on the depth chart with Agriogianis most likely, which makes you wonder why they picked someone with obvious other options with the top pick if your team is the second fall-back option.

In the second round, Maryland picked another player committed to Division I in 2018-19 in Patrick Choi. Choi is committed to Bentley University for next season, but if he does stay in juniors another year, Choi would be a great producer. In the NCDC AAA side, Choi was the tenth leading scorer in the league with 23 goals and 53 points in his 48 games between Boston and Syracuse.

A little local flavor in the third round, as Maryland picked Andrew Lucas, who was born in Alexandria, Virginia. A commit to University of Vermont, Lucas played with the Loomis Chaffee Prep School and Yale Jr. Bulldogs this past season. Lucas is coming off of back-to-back 28-point seasons with Loomis Chaffee from the blue line.

Here’s the rest of the picks from the Draft for the Black Bears:

-Cole Gibbs, D, St. Mary’s Prep (MI)
-Luc Salem, D, Alberni Valley (BCHL)
-Max Borst, F, Edina High (MN)
-Tristan Culleton, D, Steinbach (MJHL)
-Joseph Demers, C/RW, Dallas Stars U18 (TX)
-Brayden Shaw, F, Regina (Sask. Midget)
-Kobe Keller, C/RW, Soo (Northern Ont.)
-Luke Mountain, F, Shattuck St. Mary (MN)
-Marek Wazny, C, Burlington (Ont.)
-Thomas Jarman, D, Omaha AAA (NE)

There are still free agent camps to be had for the Black Bears, as they’ll hold a free agent camp in Rockville before they have their invite-only game in late July to round out their team before the September training camp in their inaugural season.

First Black Bears Acquire from Kenai River

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Via @BlackBearsNAHL

A few days late, but the first two rosters players were announced for the Maryland Black Bears, as a deal was made with the Kenai River Brown Bears, which sent Carter Wade (’98) and Luke Posner (’99) to Maryland for what appears to be future considerations, though nothing was put as a return.

The move was a decent one for Maryland, as they’ll immediately be bringing in older players who have experience at the NAHL level to help mentor the other players who may be getting their first shot at this chance.

Wade finished his second season in Kenai River, putting up three goals and 14 points in his 88 games over two seasons, as well as serving as an alternate captain last year. Wade comes from Ephrata, Washington and came out of the Everett Jr. Silvertips program before jumping to the NAHL in 2015-16 with the Odessa Jackalopes before getting a taste of the USHL in two games with the Sioux City Musketeers. After that season, Wade moved to Kenai River before heading now to Maryland. The big stat for Wade is his 407 PIMs in the last two seasons, which means the Black Bears may have found their enforcer already.

Posner finished his first year in the NAHL with five goals and 27 points in 56 games after a high school career in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. Posner captained his Mahtomedi Zephyrs get to the Class A State Tournament his senior season, though they were eliminated in the first round. Described as a slippery player, Posner was sixth on the Brown Bears in points in his rookie year. A hot start helped Posner, with 11 points in his first seven games, but it cooled as the team cooled down. A new start in Maryland could help him get back on track.

With speed and some toughness on the roster already, the Black Bears are setting things in motion for the new younger class coming in. The NAHL will hold their draft on June 5th, which will be another step in the Maryland Black Bears molding their team either through the draft or making trades to get some established players on their roster.