Howell Holds off Middletown South, Advances to Semifinals

WALL -- Midway through the second period, things looked mighty bleak for Howell High School's ice hockey team (17-6-1, no. 24).

After grabbing the early lead, Jimmy Burns scored two goals for Middletown South (10-7-3, no. 47) as the Eagles took control.

Then, the Rebels responded.Howell, seeded fourth, went on to score four unanswered goals in a 6-4 win over Middletown South, seeded fifth, in the first round of the Handchen Cup on Saturday night at Gold Coast Arena in Wall Township.

Senior Mike Kochenash scored all three of his goals in a span of 4:26 -- one coming on the man-advantage -- as Howell's offense came alives.

"I was hoping that we would eventually start clicking," Howell head coach Bill Daley said.  "We finally got the ball rolling and started playing our game."Trevor Heuser scored a power play goal with 2:20 remaining in the second period to give the Rebels the lead and Kochenash scored his final two goals within 27 seconds of each other, for a 5-2 lead at the intermission.

Heuser opened the scoring in the second period when his shot slid past Eagles' goaltender Chris Marsillo at 11:33 of the period.

The teams battled through a physical first period that saw seven penalties but no goals. Marsillo made 24 saves for Middletown South, while junior goalie Zack Peras made 26 stops for the Rebels.

Senior Eddie Pyskaty had three assists, while linemate Mike Liero had a goal and two assists, anchoring a strong first line.

Senior Greg Buckley had another strong game as he has become one of the top players for the Rebels since his transfer from Monsignor Donovan, along with sophomore Austin Crane, who has begun to see significant ice time."

Both last year and this year, we've pulled off squeakers," Daley said. "It's big to win when it matters."

Kochenash's first goal came off a beautiful pass from Liero in a 2-on-1 that was finished off with a brilliant deke. The goal c

ame with 5:40 remaining in the second period and tied the game at 2.

The Rebels went 2-for-7 on the power play, while Middletown South was 3-for-6 on the man-advantage.

Heuser and Matt Morelli had strong defensive games for Howell, along with junior Matt Kotch, who went toe-to-toe with the Eagles' snipers.

Ultimatley, the play of Kochenash and Heuser sparked the Rebels offensivley, accounting for 5 of the 6 goals."It's huge,"

Daley said of the play of Kochenash and Heuser. "They are big players and they are going to step up. It's nice that they picked it up."

Howell is now 2-0 against Middletown South in post-season play. Last year, the Rebels topped the Eagles in overtime when Eddie Pyskaty scored on a breakaway in the third round of the state playoffs.

The Rebels travel to Brick to take on the top-seeded Dragons at 4 p.m., on Tuesday.  Brick beat Howell 5-4 in a thriller at Gold Coast Arena on Jan. 27.

"We have to put together a gameplan like we did last time," Daley said. "We're going to try to execute it for the whole game."