The New Jersey Titans saw their season come to an end at the hands of the Maryland Black Bears, as the division’s top team defeated New Jersey 3-1 to complete the sweep and punch their ticket to the East Division Finals.
Maryland struck early in the first period with a power play goal to take a 1-0 lead. They outshot the Titans for the seventh consecutive period in the series as the Black Bears were successful in generating offense and keeping the puck in New Jersey’s zone.
The Black Bears then scored again six and a half minutes into the second period to stake themselves to a 2-0 lead. The Titans finally outshot Maryland in a period, but could not convert on a pair of power plays in the middle frame.
With their season on the line, New Jersey scored in the first minute of the third period when Dominik Bartecko banged home a rebound on a Jack Hillier shot to cut the deficit in half. Ryan Friedman had the other assist on the Mercyhurst commit’s 2nd goal of the postseason. The Black Bears would not yield another goal, slowly constricting the Titans’ offense to limited zone entries and maintaining puck possession. An empty net goal would seal the deal with 16.8 seconds remaining, and Maryland punched their ticket to the East Division Finals for the third time in the past four seasons.
With the loss, the Titans bid farewell to age-out players Dominik Bartecko, Dominick Rivelli, Reece Brednich, Simon Becar, Jake Geraci, Riley Fitzgerald, and goaltender Zak Brice. Next up for the organization are the summer camps that will shape the 2024-25 team, beginning with the Identification Camp to be held at the Middletown Sports Complex May 31st through June 2nd. Interested players can register for camp by following this link. The goaltenders will take center stage with their own camp July 20th and 21st, and interested keepers should follow this link. The Main Camp for the 2024-25 New Jersey Titans will be July 22nd through July 26th and is by invitation only.