A year ago, Brick Township’s hockey team entered the NJSIAA tournament against Middletown South with only one victory as an automatic qualifier out of the Gordon Division. It never added to that total.
With only one victory on its record again this year, Brick Township entered the state tournament with a little more confidence as it played Montclair yesterday at the Clary Anderson Arena in Montclair.
“Montclair always has been a rival until the last couple of years when it dropped out of Gordon,” said coach Bob Auriemma. “They’re up and down with a good goalie and good defense. Any day they can shut a team down.”
And Brick Township has been looking to pep up its scoring that has plagued it the last two seasons.
“We still do have trouble with it but our passing is improving,” Auriemma said. “Hopefully, that will carry us and we’ll stay out of the penalty box.”
Part of the reason for the improved passing is the recently revised first shift front line of seniors Mike Farr and Alex Gorden and sophomore Vince LaRosa. On the second shift is Chris Holmes, Tom Dowd and Mike Gamino. It has helped make up for the loss of highly recarded Mike Guarino, who missed two weeks with a hip pointer and then suffered a broken wrist while playing with his club team shortly after his return to the Green Dragons in mid-January.
Sophomore Anthony Zipfel and senior Jeff Law have played well at times defensively in front of goalie Rich Philpott. Freshman James Murphy and sophomore Jeff Farr are second line defensemen and freshman Andrew Bull has fit in at forward and on defense while senior Joe Lantieri is a good backup forward. If Philpott struggles, senior Matt Biringer can step in at goalie.
— Wayne Witkowski