Game Recap

State Playoffs, Round 2; Final Score: 11) Howell Rebels 4, 6) Middletown South Eagles, 3 (overtime)

Game Summary: There are no words to captivate what would happen Thursday night in the second round match-up between the Howell Rebels and Middletown South Eagles.

With a little over twenty-seven seconds remaining, potentially in Howell's season, the Rebels made it their mission ot get to overtime. Dave Ramos would bury home a rebound with 27.7 seconds remaining in regulation, tying the game at three and sending the teams into overtime.

In the final period, the first one in Howell hockey history by the way, Ramos found defensemen Eddie Pyskaty flying down the wing and hit him with a pass. Pyskaty would out-skate the last defensemen for Middletown South and beat the Eagles goalie top shelf, thus scoring the game-winning goal in the sudden death extra period, just 2:57 in.

The game-winner was Pyskaty's second of the game. He also scored the first goal of the game, a similar situation in which he was alone with the goalie--that time he went back-hand.

All night, Middletown South hung with Howell, although Howell had the upper hand for most of the night. Pyskaty and Nick Peras, who scored a power play deflection goal gave Howell leads in the first and second periods.

In the first meeting, Middletown South came back in the third period to win 4-3.

Tonight, it was time to play role reversal.

Head coach Bill Daley supported his word following the seeding for states, stating that the second round would be 'comeback time'.

What went right: For Howell, in a game filled with emotion from both the players and fans, they did practically everything right. Controlling emotions in a game like this is hard. Controlling emotions against a team whose trying to pick fights after every play in the state playoffs is even harder. The Rebels were on top of their game tonight, with some great puck movement and big goals all night. Despite controlling the game, it was Howell who found themselves scrambling for that game-tying goal late in the game--of course they did it without breaking a sweat.

Well, that's not entirely true.

On a serious note, with their season on the line, Howell scored the big goals that would send them to the next round of the playoffs, and send the Eagles home--and that's what counts at the end of the day.

What's Next: On Sunday, the Howell Rebels will take on the defending state-champions: Randolph Rams at Mennen Arena. Certainly, Howell will play the role of underdog yet again, considering the Rams are the 3rd seed--but that seems to be what pushes Howell. This game has all the potential to be even better than tonight's epic duel, and, if they win, the 11th-seeded Howell Rebels will punch their ticket to the semi-finals of the state playoffs.