Aston, Lone Star pick up Monday matinee wins
Aston 4 @ New Jersey 0 - The Aston Rebels shut out the New Jersey Titans 4-0 in a Monday matinee game at Middletown’s Ice World. It was the second straight road win against the Titans that goalie Darion Hanson and his team blanked New Jersey by the same score. The win gave the Rebels 45 points on the season and moved them into sole possession of 1st place in the East. The Rebels dominated the first period. With almost five minutes into it, the Rebels carried the puck into New Jersey’s zone. Andrew Bellant took a shot that Titan’s goalie Harrison Feeney couldn’t control and Drew Blackmun picked up the rebound putting the away team up 1-0. Four minutes later, Colton McMenamin passed it down low to captain Austin Swingle. Swingle took a shot that went wide but he went behind the net to pick up the rebound and passed to an open Chris Deprez who put it behind Feeney for a 2-0 lead. With 6:37 left in the opening stanza, Aston was on a power play and Ryan Cusin passed it down low to Gvido Jansons who found Michael Merulla open at the top of the circle. Merulla took a nice shot that Feeney never saw giving the Rebels a 3-0 lead. Early in the 3rd period, defenseman Mason Van Tuyl broke out of the near side zone and found Connor Wood. Wood head man the puck to Dean Balsamo. Balsamo took a nice shot that beat Feeney short side giving Aston a 4-0 lead. Hanson stopped all 21 shots he faced. It was his third shutout of the season. Feeney made 18 saves in the loss (courtesy of Aston website). Boxscore
Wichita Falls 2 @ Lone Star 4 - The Wildcats travelled to the NYTEX Sports Centre for the final time of the 2015-2016 regular season Monday morning for a 2 pm start, and were defeated by the Lone Star Brahmas by a score of 4-2. The Brahmas out-skated the Wildcats early and outshot them 14-9 in the first period. Less than seven minutes into the game, Justin Kapelmaster conceded a juicy rebound off a Peter Kessel shot. The puck bounced right to Sean Giles, who slammed the puck past Kapelmaster for his first goal of the season. Merrimack College commit and former Youngstown Phantom Tyler Drevitch doubled the score for the Brahmas 8:35 into the contest. He jabbed the puck past Kapelmaster after Dalton Skelly ripped a wrist shot from the point. Less than five minutes later after killing a penalty, Hogan Davidson hauled the puck down the right side and laid a saucer pass across the ice for David Marabella, who tapped it between Kapelmaster’s pads to give the Brahmas a 3-0 lead. The Wildcats dominated the second period. Michael Rounds got things rolling just 1:07 into the period by firing a wrist shot which fluttered over Corbin Kaczperski’s glove and into the net. At the 13:49 mark of period three, Carson Kelley managed to trickle the puck through Kapelmaster and add an insurance goal to make the game 4-1. Refusing to go down quietly, the Wildcats continued to pressure the Brahmas despite trailing by three goals late in the game. Nick Rosa spun the puck on net from behind the goal line on his backhand and it bounced off of Kaczperski and into the net. Kapelmaster made 19 saves on 23 shots for just his fourth regulation loss, while Kaczperski stopped 23 shots of 25 for his 16th win (by Alex von Keudell, Wichita Falls Wildcats). Boxscore
