Season Opener a Success, Howell Defeats Toms River North 7-0

By: Mark Ferrante, Rob Ferraioli, staff writers

The 30th state ranked Howell Rebels made a statement to New Jersey as they EMBARRASSED the Toms River North Mariners in shutout fashion 7-0.

Headlining the score-sheet were forwards Mike Kochenash (3G, 1A) and Eddie Pyskaty (2G, 3A) who was electrifying every time he touched the puck. Other standouts were goaltender Zack Peras who recorded his first shutout of the season, and freshman defenseman Trevor Heuser (1G) who scored his first goal of his high school career on a blast from the point and played solid defense all night.

Grades
Offense - A+: Great cycling, passing, shooting, domination, and of course 7 goals for is huge for an opener. Howell’s offense SHOULD NOT be a problem all year, especially when Greg Buckley enters Howell line-up after his 30 day suspension due to transfer.

Defense - B+: Great breakouts, lots of blocked shots and big hits. Only improvement that needs to be made is a cut-down on breakaways, Peras did save 2-3 breakaways. The way we see it is those breakaways will be cut down by seasons end, just gotta get the D some more chemistry.

Goaltending - A+: Peras was very solid making 16 saves on 16 shots for a shutout. A shutout is great for a goalies confidence, especially to start the season.

Coaching - A: Very good to see the top 2 lines getting some confidence and chemistry with each other. The 3rd line wasn’t used very much, but obviously Coach Daley instilled the Defense first mentality to his 3rd liners, and it showed off, very good to have a 3rd line who will focus on defense.

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A lot of times when watching hockey, fans only notice the players who put up the points. We would like everyone to notice the “Unsung heroes”.

Matt Morelli epitomized the definition of an “Unsung hero” last night. Morelli did not have any points, but did do a lot of dirty work, worked hard in the corners, blocked shots, and threw his body around all night long.

Improvements: The fans. Howell High School is a school of 2,500 students, there were 15-20 kids chanting on Wednesday night. “The Rebellion” is known as of the best fan bases in all of New Jersey............Please tell me where everyone was for the season opener last night? The class of 2010 prided themselves on going to every game, regardless of location, and I think a lot of other students should continue the tradition.


3 Stars of the Game:
1) Mike Kochenash – Opening night hat-trick, good start to the season for Kochenash. If the Rebels look to go far this year, Kochenash has to be a huge part of the success.
2) Zack Peras – Even though the final score was 7-0, Peras had to make 2-3 breakaway saves. Ideal start to the season for the Rebels net-minder.
3) Eddie Pyskaty – Made his presence felt every time he stepped on the ice. 2 goals and a couple assists is a great starting point for the Senior captain. Get used to seeing Pyskaty in the three stars.


Rebel Stars Leaderboard
1) Kochenash – 3 Points
2) Peras – 2 Points
3) Pyskaty – 1 Point
**** New competition we are creating, for every game, we will do a 3 star selection, if you are the 1st player in our eyes, you receive 3 points, 2nd, 2 points, 3rd, 1 point.

Whats Next for the Rebels: Howell has two HUGE tests next week, Mon Don (rank 36th) on Tuesday December 7th, then another huge one 24 hours later against rival Jackson Memorial on December 8th..............EVERYONE GO TO THE GAME.

Wear white on Tuesday! White out Mon Don!!!

Seasonal Record - 1-0-0
Overall Record - 36-8-7

Box Score
M. Kochenash: 3 goals 1 assist 4 points
E. Pyskaty: 2 goals 3 assists 5 points
M. Leiro: 1 goal 1 assist 2 points
T. Heuser: 1 goal 0 assists 1 point
B. Hodes: 0 goals 1 assist 1 point

Z. Peras: 16 shots against 16 saves