Dragons' Regular Season Ends on the Ice

Things started off with ease, for the Brick Township Green Dragons (11-5-3) on Sunday night.

On senior night against Middletown South, the Dragons cleanly skated the puck into the Eagles (14-5-2) zone as well as winning battles in the corners with their dump-and-chase. 

Unfortunately for the Dragons, as good as things were going early, they had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard as the first period ended in a goalless tie.

At one point in the dominating opening frame, Brick held a 7-0 lead in shots, as it took Middletown South nine minutes to register their first shot on net.

The Dragons started the second period in similar fashion, this time cumulating with a Tyler Martin go-ahead goal. 2:30 into the second the senior Martin closed in on a breakaway attempt. The senior started left and quickly came across to the right, forcing Eagles goaltender Trevor Ralph to move laterally. The movement caused just enough space to open between Ralph's legs and Martin slipped the puck through the five-hole on his backhand.

Shortly after the Martin tally, 1:35 to be exact, the Eagles knotted the game on a fortunate bounce off a skate.

South's Chris Connor was behind Brick netminder Jake Lampiasi's goal. Connor alertly looked to fire a pass in front, when it caught Lampiasi's skate and propelled into the net.

For the remaining ten minutes of the period, the anticipated top two seeds in the upcoming Handchen Cup Tournament, played to a stalemate. Both teams traded breakaways ten seconds apart where Lampiasi and Ralph stood tall. Lampiasi chipped the shot into the corner where it was quickly rushed to Tyler Martin on for his second breakaway chance of the game.

For the Dragons, strong starts to each period seemed to fade and South would be holding the advantages by the end.

"It has a lot to do with our conditioning," said Dragons head coach Bob Auriemma. "When you're tired, your perception of the game is changed."

One minute after an unsuccessful stint on the power play, the Dragons would watch South take the lead.

All Shore defensemen Jimmy Burns of Middletown South stepped in to play a puck after plenty of chaos in the Brick zone and ripped a puck towards the net. Lampiasi got a piece of the try but it wasn't enough as the puck trickled its way into the net.

1:26 later and on the power play, Burns again unleashed a shot that this time, Lampiasi, or any goalie, was not going to get a piece of. Burns dialed up a shot after a faceoff win and targeted for the upper most right corner of the net, just past the out stretched glove of Lampiasi.

With 8:05 to play, the Dragons trailed 3-1.

Seconds into a power play, Tyler Martin almost cut the lead to one, as he hit the crossbar with 6:28 to play.

Later, on the same power play, Ryan Price would find David Kearns alone in front as the sophomore would snap the twine beating Ralph five-hole narrowing the deficit to just one goal with 4:05 to play. 

Despite high pressure from the Dragons, South managed to hang on for the win and likely clinched the top seed in the Handchen Cup Tournament.

"I'm disappointed with the results, not with the players," said Auriemma. "We had our chances, luck just wasn't on our side tonight."

Despite the loss, Brick outshot the Eagles 34-25.

As for the upcoming Handchen Cup Tournament, spirits remained high.

"It's definitely looking like anybody can win it this year, with all the teams being so balanced," said Auriemma. "It's going to come down to who makes the most of their lucky breaks."