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Day After Game Report: There Are Four Games Left, Are The Black Bears? April 3, 2025 | ||
Posted by: Bob Howard Credit: Binghamton Hockey.net | ||
March 30, 2025 - by Bob Howard - BinghamtonHockey.net The Binghamton Black Bears continued their winning ways last night in Danbury. They swept the home and home series with the Danbury Hat Tricks and I don’t know if the Hat Tricks were ever in either of these two games. No, I am not trying to be disrespectful towards the Hat Tricks, we all know that a Jonny Ruiz led team will fight, play hard and are a skilled bunch. But as soon as the Black Bears start up the scoring machine and they find the lanes, even Connor McCollum can stop the shots coming in from the Black Bears. First it was six unanswered goals on Friday night before Ruiz was about to get one past McAnanama, then on Saturday the Black Bears came out to a 3 goal lead in the first period, basically putting their foot on the necks of the home team on their Ring of Honor night. When the Hat Tricks on Saturday night scored a goal, the Black Bears came back with a response and regained their three goal lead. Like Danbury was never in it. Last night, all of the on ice pieces were back together again, well sort of. Tyson Kirkby the Captain of the Black Bears was back on the ice, he centered Austin Thompson who had two goals and Donald Olivieri was back over on the right side. After that, the Black Bears didn’t resemble what we have seen before when it comes to the lines but something I have been saying for a long time is that the Black Bears are interchangeable. The beauty of what Brant Sherwood has created is that no line is the #1 line, no players is more important than another and anyone can be plugged into a spot and the team can win. Whether Scott Ramaekers is first line right wing or the tenth forward, he is impact full in the game he is in. The Black Bears are also positioning themselves for options with the college rookies. Last night Nicholas Swain played his 5th game and scored his 4th goal, he’s dangerous on the ice and will be a very good option for Coach Sherwood. He was on the second line last night with Cameron Clark and Kyle Stephan. Gavin Yates was scratched last night and you know he will be in the line-up in the playoffs on the left side of Stephan. Anthony Bernardo played in his 5th game last night and he now has 5 assists in his five games. Bernardo and Swain provide excellent options for Coach Sherwood if an injury occurs. Scoring came from all three lines last night and that is the one thing that the Black Bears can boast. They saw 2 goals from Austin Thompson for the second night in a row. Swain and Stephan scored from the second line and Zac Sirota scored as well. BUT more importantly, look at the scoring order last night in the first 3 goals. Austin Thompson scored first at the 3:24 mark, then at the 12:48 mark is was Kyle Stephan where the 3rd goal came from Zac Sirota. Lines 1, 2 and 3 scoring the first 3 goals. And these were the true lines on the ice from the line-up card. My point? The Black Bears are deep in their roster. They may be criticized by some fans, other organizations and or players in the league for being too cocky, arrogant or they chirp too much, some would even say they are dirty. But whether you like them or don’t, they are deep, they are good and they find a way to win. Their is a belief system in the locker room that anyone of the players could score, win a game and\or be the hero. The Black Bears are fine tuning. They are getting themselves ready for the playoffs. Coach Sherwood is watching these game from a different perspective, the stands and has one more game on his suspension. He is seeing the game like I do from a different angle and you see the game slow down when your not watching from the bench. You can feel the over all part of the game. And this will make him a better coach because he is seeing his team from afar and from a different perspective. It’s funny when you step back and look at something your so close to, you can see things differently. I am sure he has learned some things about this team and the players he’s recruited by watching the game live from a different part of the Arena then behind the bench. He may not realize it now, but likely he will someday. I know everyone is talking about the Athens Rock Lobsters. The games were likely circled on the schedule for both teams. Both teams like with the Carolina Thunderbirds games want to see how the two teams stack up against each other. Carolina or Athens could be the match-up in the finals. The Black Bears have three days to get to Athens. They are flying down, no bus, no worries about a breakdown. The model franchise in the FPHL doesn’t bus to Mississippi or to Athens, no they fly down. But they shouldn’t bus down, because these games are important. The Black Bears do have everything clinched up and the people in Athens knows what the Black Bears did last season and this season. So going down there, ready and set to play playoff hockey is important. Questions are, will Donald Olivieri be there? Gavin was out last night, but is he making the trip, playing in those games? Which rookie stand out steps up and contributes again against an opponent like Athens. So to answer the title the of this piece are the Black Bears ready? Yes, they are fine tuning what they hope is an exact replica of last season’s playoff. Win every game, do another 7-0 run and win it again on home ice in front of the best fans in Minor Pro Hockey. Lastly I want to touch on something that may go over looked or unnoticed. About a month and a half ago, I had a conversation with Stephan down by the locker rooms and I asked him this question, which we both got the answer to last night: “Can the team really end the season with less than 10 regulation losses?” I have waited until this morning to publicly speak anything about this conversation. When I asked Steph this question there was NO hesitation, there was a quick and to the point answer, “Yes”. Last night after the game I brought this up to Steph and he said to me just one statement, “The belief in this room is unmatched.” I can also say that there are many people who believe in that locker room as well.
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