Game Recap: 1/3/26

By Jeff Barrett

Coming off a big upset win on Friday night after ending the Black Bears fifteen game win streak, the Wolves came into the evening knowing it would take another gritty performance to back up last nights win. 

A fire Monday morning in the compressor room at the Watertown Municipal Arena caused some issues for the ice crew that threatened to delay or postpone the game, but the crew lead by Jerry Romig, did a fantastic job of getting the place ready to play. There were obvious issues with the ice surface, but both teams agreed it was safe to play, despite that the rink could not be "flooded" between periods. The crew did what they called a "dry cut" with the Zamboni, which basically swept the snow off the ice and gave the players a slightly slower but clean and smooth surface to play on. 

Binghamton's CJ Stubbs would get the night's scoring started at the 4:16 mark to put the Black Bears up 1-0, assisted by Austin D'Orazio and Ivan Bonderenko. The Black held that lead at the break while outshooting Watertown 16-7.

D'Orazio extended the Black Bears lead 2-1 just 2:16 into the second period on a power play goal assisted by CJ Stubbs and Tyson Kirkby The score would stay at that tally after at the break with the Black Bears continuing to outshoot Watertown, this time 11-10 through the second twenty minutes.

For a game that was 2-0 after forty minutes, period three turned into a wild scoring affair for both teams.

Just 4:50 into the third, Gavin Yates extended the Binghamton lead to 3-0 when he sniped a shot to the top right corner, assisted by Nicholas Swain and Zac Sirota.

The Wolves Egor Filippov pulled Watertown back within two goals when scored at the 6:01 mark making the score 3-1, giving the hometown fans something to cheer about, but just :19 later, Tyson Kirkby took a feed from Gavin Yates and put Binghamton back up by three 4-1.

At 8:49, the Black Bears CJ Stubs found the back of the net again, pushing the lead to 5-1 with the helpers going to Ivan Bonderenko and Scott Ramaekers.

But just 21 seconds later, Watertown again cut into the lead, this time on a Darion Benchich goal at 9:10, with assists from Egor Filippov and Yefim Mishkin, making it 5-2 Binghamton. 

The Black Bears Zac Sirota broke free at 11:05 of the frame, and once again pushed the Black Bears lead back to 6-2.

It was just 40 seconds later when Dan Wieber took his turn getting on the scoreboard, giving Binghamton a 7-2 lead.

Watertown again got a goal back, this time just 38 seconds later on a Hunter Hall goal. Chase DiBari and Jake Shultz were credited with the assists, tightening the score to 7-3, but Binghamton wasn't done yet. 

At 19:25 Gavin Yates got his second of the night unassisted, sending the Black Bears to a 8-3 win.

The Wolves will head to Danbury, CT next week to take on the Hat Tricks on Friday and Saturday at the Danbury Ice Arena, while the Black Bears go back out on the road, this time to Winston Salem, NC to battle the Twin City Thunderbirds.