Howell Unable to Defeat Dragons in Rematch

In the minutes following a loss to the Brick Dragons last month, January 25th to be exact, every Howell fan, player, and coach even, vowed for just another shot at the Dragons.

"I told the boys we played well, next time we play them we'll be skating around with the Handchen Cup Trophy." said Howell head coach Bill Daley.

Although not the championship game, Daley and his Rebels got their wish to play those Dragons in the Handchen Cup Playoffs last night. Unfortunately, it did not work out quite the way they would have liked.

The Rebels offense failed to get pucks past Eddie Rafferty, perhaps the best netminder in the Shore, as their Handchen Cup run came to an end.

For the Rebels, this was their first Handchen Cup experience following winning the Dowd Cup in their first season, and losing in the semi finals last year to Toms River South in the Dowd Cup Playoffs.

"Goaltending was the difference tonight," claimed Daley, "(Rafferty) was their best player out there - he made two or three saves you don't expect a goaltender to make.

Greg Buckley scored the lone Rebel goal after finishing a pass from Eddie Pyskaty early in the third period. However, the Rebels already trailed 5-0 at the time of the goal and could not crack the Dragons defense the rest of the night.

Howell's inability to score certainly did not come from a lack of chances. The Rebels threw 25 pucks on the net, countless others sailed just wide, including freshman Trevor Heuser hitting the post.

Despite going 0-4 on the power play - including a brief five on three - Daley was still satisfied with the effort on the power play.

"Our chances were there, we had a lot of opportunities," said Daley, "It would have been a bigger concern if we were not getting those chances, their goalie really stood on his head."

The Rebs fell behind in the first period as Brick's Matt Gumina tapped the puck in off a scramble in front of the net with 6:05 to play. In the next few shifts following the goal, Howell nearly tied it as Mike Leiro and Mike Kochenash came crashing down on a two on one that Rafferty turned away.

Howell came out strong to open the second and was helped out by two power play chances. It was clear the Rebels were outplaying the Dragons holding a 7-1 shot advantage in the period before a late period meltdown cost the boys in blue a chance for a comeback in the third.

Two Brick goals in 15 seconds put Howell behind 3-0 with 3:44 to play before the intermission. In trying to regroup, Howell burned their timeout. It appeared as if Howell was getting back into it as Trevor Heuser hit the post but only a minute later, Brick scored again taking a commanding 4-0 lead into the locker room.

Opening the third, Howell goaltender Zack Peras looked surprised as a tough angle shot hit him and went in. Peras was busy stopping 23 of 28 shots on the night.

"It's a huge disappointment," Daley said, speaking about losing this game, "we came in here with the intention to of knocking these guys off."

"It's a whole new season now." Daley said of the state playoffs. The coach had a positive outlook on the state playoffs saying, "It only takes five wins to bring home a state championship."