DANBURY, CT – The Danbury Hat Tricks fought the Maryland Black Bears on Friday Afternoon, and the two teams did not disappoint. The Hat Tricks and Black Bears battled through regulation until Maryland scored an overtime winner to take home a 4-3 victory.
Maryland and Danbury were scoreless through two as both Adam Johnson and Michael Morelli were fantastic between the pipes. It was the first time Johnson had started three consecutive games this season and he took the tough-luck OTL.
“Adam is a battler,” said Hat Tricks Head Coach Billy McCreary. “There is not much that rattles him and we like our odds with him in their right now.”
The third period started off quickly, with four goals in the first five minutes and seventeen seconds. Jake Howard (1) opened the scoring for Danbury, netting his first career NAHL goal at 1:57 of the third. The Hat Tricks went down 2-1 before tying the game up again with a goal from Mike Salandra (3).
Ben Biester scored the third and final goal of the third to give the Hat Tricks a 3-2 lead with 10:06 remaining. Maryland would tie it up on a delayed power-play with a goal from Dimitry Kebreau (4) and send the game to overtime.
“We played our game tonight, I was happy with the way our guys battled and stayed even-keeled,” continued McCreary.
The overtime period had chances both ways, but another delayed penalty spelled doom for Danbury as Maryland capitalized on a four-on-three and Philip Tornqvist (4) lit the lamp to send the Black Bears home with a victory.
The Hat Tricks are back at it on Saturday afternoon with a 3:30 p.m. start against Maryland. Make sure to come out and support the Hat Tricks at home as they wrap up their longest homestand of the year.
Make sure to follow along with the game online via social media or HockeyTV, however, we will not be broadcasting audio for tomorrow’s game, it will be video-only.