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BINGHAMTON HOCKEY HEADLINES
BLACK BEARS WIN THE COMMISSIONER'S CUP FOR THE 2ND STRAIGHT YEAR
The Binghamton Black Bears (3-0) defeated the Carolina Thunderbirds (0-3) in front of 5,013 fans by the score of 5-2 to win the city of Binghamton's third championship in 52 years. Gus Ford scored the games first goal at the 10:37 mark of the 1st period after getting his shot past Connor McAnanama's blocker side and the post giving the Thunderbirds a 1-0 lead. Early into the 2nd period the Black Bears responded quickly with a CJ Stubbs goal to tie up the game at 1 goal a piece just 30 seconds into the middle period. With Petr Panacek in the the box for high-sticking the Black Bears take a 2-1 lead with an Austin Thompson power play goal at the 4:32 mark of the period. With Nick Swain then in the penalty box serving a Gavin Yates match penalty for kneeing, the Thunderbirds tie the game back up at 2-2 with a power play goal from Roman Kraemer. The Black Bears then again took the lead with a goal from Zac Sirota at the 15:13 mark of the period. The Black Bears scored their 4th goal of the game off of Black Tosto's stick and a Cameron Clark rebound to make this a 4-2 game with 11:05 left to go. Giving the Black Bears a 3 goal cushion at the end of the game in the 3rd, Tyson Kirkby scored his 5th goal in the playoffs. The Black Bears win the game 5-2, they win the series 3-0 and go back to back winning their 2nd Commissioner's Cup Championship. You can see the BinghamtonHockey.net boxscore here.

BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS FINISH FIRST HALF OF SEASON ATOP
The Binghamton Black Bears in the 2024-25 season have now played 28 games, which is exactly half of the season. They are 23-4-1 with 65 points, which ranks them first in the league and in the Empire Division. They are 19 points ahead of the Watertown Wolves who have played 2 less games, even if the Wolves gain all 6 points in those games in hand, the difference is 13 points. I think the Black Bears are having a great season. This is the second full season for Head Coach Brant Sherwood, who when he took over the reigns of the franchise on December 29, 2022 after Gary Gill took a leave of absence, had to make some hard decisions before a winning culture was able to start forming. It took some time, releasing or trading fan favorites or local players and to hearing “Fire Sherwood” to what the franchise has became over the last season and a half, “The Model” in the FPHL. To compare the first 28 games this season to last years start, the numbers are certainly impressive and surprising to a degree as well. In 2023-24, the first 28 games had some over-time challenges and maybe specialty teams challenges that were corrected but were evident, and the wins were there. The first half of last season saw the Black Bears win 19 games, have only 3 regulation losses but 6 losses in overtime or the shoot-out. Remember last year, C-Mac was snake bitten in the shoot-out and we didn’t know what we had at that point. A team that was going to get to the playoffs, but not disappoint. Last season’s start saw 130 goals scored and 84 goals allowed, 46 goal differential, that’s not that bad.

MCANANAMA NAMED GOALIE OF THE MONTH FOR DECEMBER
The FPHL named Binghamton Black Bears net-minder Connor McAnanama as Goalie of the Month for Decemeber. In December, C-Mac went 5-0-0 through five games, had 1 shut out on 12/28/2024 vs. the Danbury Hat Tricks. During the the 5 games Connor had a 1.43 Goals Against Average and .944 save %.

THE POWER PLAY POST - SEASON 14
Cameron YarwoodThe Power Play Post Show, hosted by Bob Howard is back and is in it's 14th season. The 14th season has already great guests like Blake Tosto, Cameron Clark, Chris Mott, Brooks Hill and we will have many more guests from the Binghamton Black Bears as well as guests from around the FPHL. You can subscribe to our the Podcast through Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

LIKE THE POWER PLAY POST SHOW ON FACEBOOK
Cameron YarwoodThe Power Play Post Show, hosted by Bob Howard is on Facebook now and you can join the group to enjoy Binhamton Hockey news, information, announcements about the show, guests and so much more. Click here to join the Power Play Post Show group on Facebook. You can also subscribe to our the Podcast through Spotify or Apple Podcasts.