Danbury, CT- The Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks staged a physical game against the Maryland Black Bears on Friday night. The first-place Black Bears dominated the shot counter 46-18 and gave Patricks Berzins (’03) all he could handle in his Hat Tricks debut. But the Talsi, Latvia, native stopped 43 shots in his first game on North American ice. The future Maine Black Bear kept the Maryland Black Bears at bay for the whole night, especially in the first period, during which the shot counter was 20-5.
Dimitry Kebreau and Christian Catalano scored second period goals to increase their scoring totals to 9 goals for Kebreau, most in the NAHL, and 16 points for Catalano, tied for most in the NAHL. Bohdan Panasenko (’03) scored late in the second period on a brilliant solo drive to cut the score down to 2-1. Logan Furstenau (’03) and Liam Varmecky (’03) recorded assists on Panasenko’s goal.
Danbury could not get the equalizing goal in the third period. Jesse Horacek scored for Maryland to make the final score 3-1 for the visiting Black Bears.
The Hat Tricks and Black Bears rematch on Saturday night to complete the weekend series. Puck drops at 7 PM at the Danbury Arena.