'Sigh of relief': Late goal lets slumping Generals salvage tie

As seen in The Pataskala Standard
Friday, January 4th, 2008

JOSH HACHAT

Beacon photo by Eric George, The Advocate P.R.P.C. Prowlers' Brad Noskowiak skates through Jake Metcalfe's defense Thursday night in Newark. The game ended 2-2. View more photos.

NEWARK -- It wasn't a win, but under the circumstances, the Newark Generals gladly took it.

On the brink of losing their third straight game, the Generals put together a late and seemingly unexpected rally against the P.R.P.C. Prowlers on Thursday at the Lou and Gib Reese Ice Arena.

Joe Parini's goal off a fancy pass from Jake Metcalfe with 28 seconds left was the final goal in a 2-2 tie, but it felt like the game-winner for the Generals. An ecstatic Parini said the tie felt as good as a win after two straight losses -- including one to the Prowlers last month.

"It really does," Parini said. "Going into the break, we had lost a bad one to them, played horrible and then dropped another one. This one would have been hard if we would have lost. But we finished hard, and this is good for us."

Thursday's game was the Generals' (12-3-2, 9-2-2 Greater Columbus High School Club Hockey League) first in two weeks since consecutive losses to the Prowlers and Westerville, but the first two periods didn't indicate anything but a third straight loss was forthcoming.

The Prowlers, who maintained a five-point advantage in the GCHSCHL over the Generals, got an early goal from Adam McGrath midway through the first period.

Newark had several chances early but couldn't convert opportunities in front of the goal. The Prowlers (14-5-3, 11-3-3) controlled the second period, but they couldn't score with a two-man advantage late in the period.

The Generals had their own 5-on-3 opportunity early in the third but could only manage one shot on the power play.

A bevy of missed chances finally were redeemed on a goal from Jake Metcalfe with 4:08 remaining. It came just moments after Bill York and Parini peppered the net with shots.

"It was a sigh of relief," Parini said. "We finally started to click, and we're getting back into a rhythm again. It's great to see."

The Prowlers answered, however, getting a goal from Licking Heights' Ryan Straker with 3:27 remaining. Straker took the puck from his own end, skated down the left side and finished an impressive run with a hard shot past Generals goalkeeper Andrew Clark.

"I like to see how far I can take it and hopefully get something good out of it," Straker said. "I thought it was a game-winner. I thought it was going to be it, and I was pretty happy about that one."

But Parini and Metcalfe teamed up in the final seconds for a picture-perfect goal that had eluded the Generals during the first 44 minutes.

Metcalfe darted through the Prowlers defense and flipped a shot to Parini, who blasted it past Prowlers keeper Jeremiah Holland.

"I was jacked up to the extreme," Parini said. "Just knowing Metcalfe, I knew he was going to try to go through everybody, so I thought I might as well try to go to the net.

"Amazingly enough, he did all the work. He went by everybody. He threw it in front and I put it in. It was one of the highlights of my hockey career."

The Generals finished with 28 shots, and Clark had 24 saves. Holland finished with 26 saves for P.R.P.C., which had 26 shots.

"We know it's going to be a game like this with Newark," Prowlers coach Jay C. Catherine said. "It's the toughest place to play in our league. Their fan support is great, and it can be intimidating.

"But I'm proud of our performance. The series is still even with one more to go."

The teams' final meeting is Feb. 3 at Chiller Easton.