Eagles Rally Comes Up Short

For the most fleeting of moments, it seemed the Jimmy Burns had saved the Middletown High School South Eagles.

The senior scored two goals in less than two minutes to pull South ahead of the fourth-seeded Howell Rebels.

Still, it was not enough. Howell responded with four uncontested goals, pulling away in a 6-4 win, Saturday night in the first round of the Handchen Cup playoffs at Gold Coast Arena in Wall, the Eagles' home for ice hockey.

"[Middletown South] came out really strong," said Howell's head coach Bill Daley. "We started to play their game, not ours, and it got to us."

The Eagles flew back in the third period, scoring twice to make it a 5-4 game, but in the end, it simply wasn't enough.

Chris Malamut and captain Jason Zimmel each scored a power play goal in the final period to draw within a goal, but the Eagles couldn't seem to find the twine for that game-tying goal.

Tyler Ralph appeared to score a goal less than 30 seconds into the period but it was ruled that Howell goalie Zack Peras was interfered with.

Chris Marsillo made 24 saves for Middletown South and Zack Peras turned away 26 as the Rebels move on to the second round to take on Brick.

Mike Kochenash had a hat trick for the Rebels and Heuser added two.

The Eagles connected on half of their power play chances, going three-for-six and their penalty kill was strong, only allowing the Rebels to go two-for-seven, stopping a five-on-three dis-advantage early on.

After an up-and-down season that included captain Matt Johnson and his younger brother Brett to quit the team, Middletown South will look to rebound and strike in the state playoffs.

The state playoff seedings will be released on Wednesday, Feb. 23. The Eagles will shift to Public 'B' this year.