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Day After Game Report: Home Ice Advantage Through Out March 28, 2025 | ||||||
Posted by: Bob Howard Credit: Binghamton Hockey.net | ||||||
March 23, 2025 - by Bob Howard - BinghamtonHockey.net
The confidence that Sherwood has in his guys is likely one of the best qualities he has. He sees everything they do in practice and knows what they can do, which allows him to trust these guys when they hit the ice. Sure the Black Bears could have crumbled out there last night. They could have gotten lazy or sloppy or turned the game ugly with rough and dangerous stuff, but that’s not what they do. I have said many times in the past, they react in games. The Black Bears react to everything, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Last night they reacted to being down by four, the right way. Put their boots on, hard hats, took an extra shift and came out with a win. A win that continues to build character for the players, no not for Tyson Kirkby or Jesse Anderson or even CJ Stubbs. They’ve already been through those character building games. But for guys like Nicholas Swain, CJ Hapward, Cameron Clark and Chris Mott, these are the games where they step up and say, I am on the same level as a future Binghamton Hockey Hall of Fame player like Kirkby. Why? Because even if say Swain only plays the rest of this season and playoffs, then leaves, you have a guy that in his mind thinks he is one of the best players in Single-A hockey. That is how you have a team that goes out on the ice and is able to come back from being down by four, on the road and wins a game 7-4. And the rookie Swain scores twice in the game. Coach Sherwood said about Swain and Hapward after the game: “Nick Swain is finding his groove. He’s got a knack for the net and is sticky with the puck. CJ is a levelheaded individual. A lot of goalies would have crumbled in his situation. He stood his ground and moved forward.” Again both of these players has to do things that if they didn’t we could understand because they are young, just playing their first few games. They believe in the systems and buy into what the team is all about. And even if they don’t do everything perfectly, if doesn’t matter because the Black Bears has experienced it already and someone on the team is going to find a way. None of the rookies anywhere on the ice are alone out there. Watertown did nothing wrong in the 1st period and did what I would expect from a Trevor Lord team. When the Black Bears made mistakes or broke down defensively, they pounced and capitalized on those opportunities. Trevor himself in the 1st period made the Black Bears pay with the 1st and 3rd goals where the Black Bears fired off the first 10 shots on goal in the first 8 minutes until the tide started to change and Lord found the back of the net twice. Andrew Whalen scored in between the two Lord goals and lets be honest, Davide Gaeta is a skilled shooter and if you give him any sort of room on the power play he will likely beat you and he did. Boom, after 20 the Wolves had a four nothing lead. Again, yes even I thought here is the next loss. The odds were stacked against them. But then we all saw including about 80 plus Binghamton fans who made the trip to the North Country of New York, the Black Bears change gears and go on a 7 nothing run of their own to put an exclamation mark on the regular season series vs a team who got the one win on the Black Bears on opening night in Binghamton that I am sure everyone wished the game had gone another way.
A come from behind 7-4 win that completed all but one thing left for the Black Bears. With last night’s win and the Thurnderbirds loss to the River Dragons, they now have home ice advantage through the playoffs. They won the regular season championship, which doesn’t mean a lot to the Black Bears but could mean alot if they win the Commissioner's Cup, because it will likely happen on HOME ICE again. Sherwood down played a little the home ice advantage after the game: “Home ice is a nice little bonus for our hard work throughout the season. However, it doesn’t mean anything once the post season starts.” Last season his club went 7-0 in the playoffs and I think that winning the last game in front of 5,011 fans was an advantage and now they have that in the bag. So what is that last thing the Black Bears can still shoot for? A 50 win season. Kirkby brought it up, it has been mentioned. The Black Bears have 6 games left. Three vs. Danbury, who is playing very good right now, 2 vs. arguably the second best team in the league, the Athens Rock Lobsters and a TRAP game on the final night of the regular season vs. the HC Venom. So can they do it? Of course they can. Will they? The odds are likely in the favor, but 50 wins means nothing now, winning a championship, going back to back, way more important. Lastly I want to call out Brooks Hill. He said something last night that I have been thinking about for a while now. It’s about Cameron Clark. Clark has 19 goals and in the Black Bears line-up right now with everyone in the locker-room on the ice, he is penciled in on the left side 3rd wing. He has 19 goals on the 3rd line, Ramaekers would likely be on the right side with 17 goals. Mott would be the center with 12 goals. Are you kidding me? This line could be the starting line on 13 other teams in this league. Name a team in this league where the third line has 47 goals going into the playoffs if the playoffs started today. Brooks mention of this secondary scoring is so astute. This was something I have been thinking about since Clarky broke his scoreless streak. Coach Sherwood is impressed with Clark as well when I asked him about his recent play: “Clarky is a shooter and I love that he’s not passing up shots lately. He’s finding his puck luck lately and it’s nice to see him get rewarded.” The Black Bears come home now to face off with the Hat Tricks on Friday night before going to Danbury on Saturday night for their final road game this season down at the Danbury Ice Arena. What do they have to play for now? Fine tuning this engine to make that they are ready for the playoffs. Oh and by the way, Dakota Bohn will be back this Friday in Binghamton.
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