Brick Blanks Watchung Hills 4-0 In Their Return to the Ice

Nine days after the Dragons' statement win against RBC, they finally returned to the ice Sunday night for a showdown with the Watchung Hills Warriors. Over the Christmas break, Brick was scheduled to play Toms River North and a rematch with RBC.

After a disappointing 3-3 tie against the Wall Knights, the Dragons ripped off three wins in a row. The red-hot Dragons scored at least six goals each game and looked very impressive.

Unfortunately for Brick, the break halted the streak, for a few days at least.

"For sure," said head coach Bob Auriemma, when asked if he wished there was not such a layoff between games. "When you're playing well you never want to stop. It can effect rhythm, it's tough," added the coach.

Needles to say, the Dragons picked up right where they left off, downing the Warriors 4 - 0.

Goaltender Eddie Rafferty was the back bone of a strong Dragons defense that held the Warriors to just 15 shots.

The save of the night came in the middle of the first period. The Warriors squad had cleared the puck down into the Brick end of the ice, and it looked like they would have a chance at a short breakaway if they got to the puck quick enough.

Seeing what was about to happen, Rafferty came off his line in a daring attempt to get to the puck first.With 5:30 to play in the first, a sliding Rafferty blocked a puck and a Warrior from getting to the net. A Brick defender cleared the loose puck down and the threat was evaded.

"We came out pressing and we managed to stay with our men close out there. Our goal was to keep the puck on the other cage and we succeeded pretty well in doing so," said coach Auriemma.

Brian Murphy's power play blast was the first of four pucks to get by the Warrior goalie. As time was winding down on Brick's second power play attempt, the big defensemen entered the zone with the puck. Murphy wound up and fired a shot that beat the Warrior netminder on the far side for a 1-0 Brick lead at 8:08 of the first period.

Watchung Hills' parade to the penalty box certainly did not help their chances to win. The Warriors took 8 penalties, including a double minor in the third.

Early in the second with the score still 1 - 0, Brick was on the power play again. Another big drive by Murphy threatened a goal. This time Murphy's drive was stopped- but Andrew Reiss could not be on the rebound.

Directly after the goal, Brick went on the man-advantage again. Following the goal, a Brick player was cross checked, sending a Warrior to the box. Brick did not score on the power play; a mere ten seconds later Reiss scored his second goal of the night after a puck rebounded to him and he quickly finished off with a backhander that found the twine.

Halfway through the game, Brick comfortably held a 3 - 0 lead. After killing off back to back penalties - including a 22 second 5 on 3, Brick took that lead into the locker room.

The Dragons soon found themselves on the man-advantage as the third period opened. Matt Gumina took a pass around center ice, split the defenders, and lifted a shot top-shelf narrowly under the crossbar and out of the reach of the Warrior goalie's blocker.

Gumina's goal with 12:20 to go in the game represented the match's final tally, and the Dragons' third power play goal on the night.

Brick finished with 40 shots.

"I'd like to see us a little better at this point in the season," said Auriemma. "I would have liked to see us score a little more tonight - but we are getting the pucks to the cage, that's the key. I'm not worried, we're bound to start getting those bounces going our way."

As of Jan. 2, the next Dragons game will be Tuesday, Jan. 11, at Toms River South (Winding River Arena). However, there is no word on the re-scheduling of the RBC game that was missed due to last week's blizzard.