Super Sophomores Carry Dragons

One year ago, Brick's second line of three freshmen each got their postseason feet wet by deep runs in the Shore and State tournaments.

So far, a year later, the experience has been paying off as Brick shared the Handchen Cup with Middletown South as co-champions and in the Public 'B' state playoffs.

The trio of Chris Mooney, David Kearns and Andrew Reiss flew up and down the rink again Tuesday night, as Brick crushed Wayne Hills 10-1 at home.

Kearns and Reiss netted three goals each, earning hat tricks.

"They have shown how capable they are plenty of times before," said Bob Auriemma, head coach of the Dragons. "(Hills) really loaded up on our first line and tried to slow them down but (Mooney, Reiss, and Kearns) connected."

It was two seniors, however, who started the scoring off for Brick.

After a sluggish, penalty-filled start, the Dragons squandered a few early chances by taking penalties giving the Patriots a 5-on-3 for 1:19 where they would procede to break the ice.

Soon after Brick would have their try on the power play. Defensemen Brian Murphy pinched down low to snag a puck and looked as if he was going to curl around behind the net. Instead, he slipped a pass to fellow senior Tyler Martin who had no trouble finding the back of the net.

Less than two minutes later, the Dragons would take the lead on Reiss' first of the night, which the sophomore shot up high from in tight.

The Dragons scored a third goal in four minutes when David Kearns one timed a cross crease pass past the Hills goalie with 3:30 left to play. 

Brick had a late opportunity to expand again as Ryan Price was awarded a penalty shot after a Patriot defensemen gloved a puck in the crease. The shot was stopped, however.

On the power play again early in the second, Kearns poked out a puck sitting behind the Hills netminder for his second tally of the night, making the score 4-1. Not to be outdone was Reiss, as he scored with a beauty of a move to make it 5-1 halfway through the second on another power play mark.

Brick's power play was a success as it scored five goals on eight chances. The penalty kill went relatively well also, holding Hills to go 1-for-4.

With 2:07 to play in the second, Brick found the net again. Murphy drive a shot towards the net and Brendan Dowd gave a perfect deflection sending the puck to the back of the net.

As Brick started to run away with the score, the game became even more chippier than it already was. Wayne Hills lost three players for disqualification. With the Dragons hoping for a lengthy run in the playoffs, they couldn't afford losing a player for an upcoming game.

"I definitely told them to stay out of that kind of stuff," said Auriemma, "I told them not to talk back to the refs, if they take a penalty just head to the box, don't tack anything else on."

Reiss snapped the twins for the hat trick early in the third period off an innocent looking shot from a tough angle. Freshman Brian Lange would score his first goal of the season a minute later on the power play.

With 9:23 to play, Kearns earned his hat trick as well. The final tally of the game came from Ryan Price off a scramble in front of the net with 5:34 to play.

Jake Lampiasi started for the Dragons stopping nine of ten shots.

Brick out shot the Patriots 42-10

On Thursday, the Dragons will be taking on Mendham at home in the second round of the playoffs.