The visiting Maryland Black Bears defeated the Rebels 4 – 2 last night at the Hollydell Ice Arena in a hard fought and seesaw game. Sonny DiNubile and Jared Coccimiglio scored in the loss.
Dimitry Kebreau gave Maryland an early 1 – 0 lead just 3:58 into the game. The Black Bears’ Evan Sofikitis brought the puck into the Rebels zone along the far side boards. As he gained the line, he immediately passed the puck up to Jesse Horacek on his right. Horacek took a wrist shot from the bottom of the faceoff circle that was saved by Rebels netminder Jack Fialkoff but the rebound came right out to Kebreau in the slot, and Kebreau slammed the biscuit into the open net for his tenth goal of the season.
The Maryland lead was short lived, however, when DiNubile scored his first goal of the season at 5:10 into the contest. After Fialkoff made a save the rebound was picked up by Thomas Neu at the near side hash marks and he passed the biscuit up to Max Marquette who turned and passed the puck to DiNubile breaking out of the zone at center ice. As DiNubile gained the offensive zone line, he passed the biscuit to Luke Minard on his right. Minard made a quick return pass to DiNubile who walked in all along on Black Bears goalie Colin Ronan and DiNubile deked around Ronan and scored.
The Black Bears regained the lead with 8:04 remaining in the first. Maryland’s Ryder Nienhuis picked up the loose puck at center ice along the near side boards and went into the offensive zone. As Nienhuis skated towards the net by the goal line, he made a centering pass out front to Kareem El Bashir who redirected the backdoor pass by Fialkoff for his tenth goal of the season.
Coccimiglio tied the game at two at 8:17 into the middle stanza. Playing four on four hockey, Coccimiglio won the draw deep inside the Maryland zone and the puck went to Klaus Jogi on his left who immediately passed it back to Ryan Vaites at the point. Vaites skated towards the far side boards and went to the cage. He took a shot that was saved by Ronan but the rebound came out to Coccimiglio in the slot and Coccimiglio jammed the biscuit into the back of the net for his twelfth goal of the season, which ties him with Kris Samitis for the team lead in goals.
Horacek gave Maryland the lead for good with 2:57 remaining in the second. After the puck was dumped into the Rebels zone, it was picked up by Kebreau at the end wall. He tried to make a pass out front but Fialkoff intercepted and redirected to the near side boards and picked up by the Black Bears’ Samuel Stitz. Stitz turned to his left and immediately sent a pass to Horacek in the slot and he redirected the biscuit pass Fialkoff to make it a 3 – 2 game.
Stitz scored with 2:23 remaining in the third period to make it 4 – 2 and close out the scoring.
Fialkoff stopped 26 of 30 shots while Ronan turned aside 29 of 31. Click HERE for the complete box score.
