Feb 28, 2009
Howell Wins SCT Dowd Cup

Howell's David Ramos (right) slides the puck past Wall goalie Kurt Stohrer to open the scoring of the Dowd Cup final in the first period Friday. (STAFF PHOTO: MICHAEL SYPNIEWSKI)

Howell claims title in first year
By Robert Ziegler STAFF WRITER February 27, 2009

RED BANK  A resilient second-period effort by the Howell ice hockey team was rewarded late in the third Friday. Nick Peras scored the go-ahead goal, his second goal of the game, as he was falling to the ice at the 8:11 mark of the third period, and Howell, a first-year program, defeated Wall 9-7 in the Dowd Cup final at the Red Bank Armory. "Our first goal was to make the playoffs, and as the year goes on, our goals change," Rebels coach Bill Daley said. "We realized how good of a team we had and our potential, and we thought that we'd have a chance to do some damage in the playoffs."


Peras gained possession near Wall's blue line, held off Wall's Pat Bruno as he carried the puck toward the goal and as he was being taken down, backhanded a shot over the right shoulder of Crimson Knights goalie Cole Emmons.


The goal gave Howell, which trailed by two goals on four separate occasions, an 8-7 lead. It was their first lead since David Ramos scored the game's first goal at the 2:45 mark of the first period.


Ramos completed a hat trick when he wristed a shot past Emmons' left skate 2:40 after Peras' go-ahead goal, and the Rebels killed a penalty to secure the victory, their ninth in a row and 13th in their last 14 games.


Howell came into the game averaging 8.25 goals per game in those 13 wins, so Daley wasn't too concerned when it became obvious the game would become a high-scoring one.


"Nobody's worrying about who's getting the goals, who's getting the points, it's a team concept," Daley said. "We weren't worried necessarily about the offensive part, we were worried about our defense."


After Ramos put Howell ahead 1-0, Frank Stagliano scored on the power play to tie the score and Wall scored twice more in the final 3:00 to take a 3-1 lead.


In the second period, the Crimson Knights held leads of 3-1, 4-2, 5-3 and 6-4  but each time the Rebels scored to draw within a goal.