The Maryland Black Bears struck early and often, scoring five goals in the first period and controlling the pace from start to finish in a 9–2 victory over the visiting Danbury Hat Tricks on Friday night. Kai Mencel and Ludovik Gauvin provided the offense for Danbury in Game 1 of the two-game set.
Maryland opened the scoring at 8:15 of the first period while on the power play. After Kai Mencel was whistled for tripping, Harrison Smith took a feed from Sam Osel and fired a wrist shot from the high slot through a screen and past Parker Stockseth to make it 1–0.
The Black Bears quickly blew the game open, scoring three times in a span of two and a half minutes. At 8:31 remaining, Sokrat Markarian redirected an Owen Drury pass in front to extend the lead to 2–0. Two minutes later, Tanner Duncan converted on the power play with a snap shot from the far circle that beat Stockseth long side. Just 34 seconds after that, Markarian struck again from nearly the same spot as Duncan, making it 4–0.
Maryland closed out the dominant opening frame when Jaden Sikaru buried a chance late in the period to push the lead to 5–0.
Danbury got on the board when Mencel ripped a wrist shot from the bottom of the near-side circle, beating goaltender Ryan Denes short side for his second goal of the season. The Black Bears added four more in the second period to stretch the lead to 9–1 before Gauvin scored in the final minute, cutting the deficit to 9–2.
Hat Tricks goaltenders combined for 28 saves on 37 shots, while Denes stopped 15 of 17 at the other end. Click here for the complete box score.