Weekend Preview: The Bears are Back in Town

By Jeff Barrett

A familiar foe will invade the Watertown Municipal Arena on Friday and Saturday, as the league leading Binghamton Black Bears once again make the short trip up NYS Route 81 to face the Wolves.

It's only the middle of February but the Black Bears have already clinched a playoff spot as a result of a great start through the first half of the season. Binghamton has an even 100 points going into the weekend, and have a 36 point lead over the second place Topeka Scarecrows. 

Binghamton will be short a couple of key goal scorers this weekend with both CJ Stubbs and Gavin Yates both receiving multiple game suspension after last weekend. 

The Black Bears continue to get outstanding play between the pipes from Dominik Tmej, and are once again riding a win streak of 4 games in a row. 

 The Wolves are coming off a rough road trip to Wytheville, Va. that saw the team drop both games to the Blue Ridge Bobcats, being outscored 19 to 7 over the two games. The road doesn't get much easier this weekend as the Wolves have only won 1 game in 12 tries versus the Black Bears. 

For Watertown, the power play numbers took a slight increase, averaging 19%, but the penalty kill still continues to haunt the Wolves, dropping back to 76%. 

Marquis Grant-Mentis has been a welcome addition to the Wolves offense, supplying 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points in 4 games since coming to Watertown from Indiana. The Wolves will also get big defenseman Hunter Hall back into the lineup after being on loan to Worcester of the ECHL.

Friday nights game will be Star Wars night with specialty jerseys being auctioned immediately after the game. Saturday evening we will honor our local firefighters with "Ignite A Miracle Night". All firefighters will be admitted for $10.00 with ID. 

Doors open at 6:00 and the puck drops at 7:30 both nights for another exciting weekend of Wolves hockey. Don't forget, if the you can't get to the arena, you can catch all the action on the Wolves exclusive broadcast home, rumble.com, powered by Steve Weed Productions.