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Impact Players: CJ Stubbs, Graham Burke, Sam Dabrowski October 18, 2026 | ||
Posted by: Taylor Welch Credit: BinghamtonHockey.net | ||
October 18, 2026 - by Taylor Welch I don’t think you could’ve asked for a better ending for this weekend series against Port Huron. The opponent that has always been a tough one to face for various reasons started their season right where it ended last year and they got the same results. Games like Saturday night are where captains have the ability to shine. I’ve talked about it before in previous seasons when Tyson Kirkby did what he needed to do to secure a win for the Black Bears. Well that's exactly what we got from CJ Stubbs as our net minder was holding his own I can only imagine all the fans were on the edge of their seats when we saw that Chance Gorman was the first shooter for the Black Bears during the shoot-out but Port Huron’s net minder Andrew MacLean held strong that is until Captain Stubbs took to the ice. He started off with some speed before slowing down taking his time as he went forehand backhand top shelf to score on Port Huron’s rookie net minder. That would be the only goal needed as Fetterly was the last to shoot for the Prowlers and he missed. With Chance Gorman scoring the only goal during the game it was both CJ Stubbs and Graham Burke who secured the shoot-out for the Black Bears. Some fans may have thought Head Coach Brant Sherwood was crazy for starting a rookie goal tender against a team like the Port Huron Prowlers who despite their reputation have some quality goal scorers on their team but Burke held his own. Now nothing keeps the fans on the edge of their seats like a close game that leads to a shoot-out. Yet in is Pro debut that’s what Graham Burke gave the fans. After facing in my opinion a tougher game from the Port Huron Prowlers, Burke did an outstanding job saving 34 of 35 shots he faced. He only allowed 1 goal during the second period where he saw the most shots of 16. During over time he did a great job keeping his head in the game and with the help of Sam Dabrowski didn’t allow the Prowlers to score. During the shoot-out he faced Alex Johnson, Reggie Millette and Austin Fetterly where he denied all 3 securing the win for the Black Bears. I give Burke huge props for getting run twice by the same player and having the mental fortitude to not be bothered by it. Port Huron’s favorite way to get into their opponents head is to crash the goalie, it just doesn’t work against the Binghamton Black Bears. I know we are only 3 games into the season, but Saturday nights game is in my opinion Sam Dabrowski’s best game so far. He had 2 crucial plays Saturday that made me decide he needed to be an Impact Player which I will be honest was a hard decision as I almost went with Gehrett Sargis for his puck handling skills. Dabrowski has had important plays on both the power play and penalty kill. During the first period after the hooking call on Cheechoo Lathlin about halfway through the penalty kill after the puck was cleared out the zone and the Prowlers go for a line change Brett Lockhart goes to drop the puck back to Jamie Bucell but Dabrowski interrupts their play stealing the puck to go short handed for a shot on goal where Bucell’s only play was to try and block the puck and not try to take on Dabrowski. However it was during overtime where Dabrowski earned the right to be an Impact Player. With the stressful 5 minutes of overtime winding down and just over 2 minutes left Reggie Millette would get control of the puck and skate shorthanded into the zone and while the Black Bears had 4 players on the ice none of them were defensemen. Dabrowski was able to skate in and push Reggie not only away from Burke but forces Millette to dump the puck where Stubbs is able to get the steal. During this point in the game the Black Bears were down 2 defensemen and I believe Dabrowski really stepped up in this game on the special teams and especially during over time.
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