Francis Howell Central Makes High School Hockey History!
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- Wednesday 09 March, 2011
Francis Howell Central Makes High School Hockey History!
Howell Central Captain John Mueller anchors the Spartans penalty kill, The Spartans held CBC's power play unit scoreless in the Mid-States Finale.
When the buzzer sounded on Tuesday night at the Scottrade Center history had been made. The Francis Howell Central Spartans upset the CBC Cadets Tuesday night 7-3 in the 40th annual Mid-States Challenge Cup. The win means that Howell Central (23-3-2) will be the first St. Charles County team to ever capture the Challenge cup, a title won 11 times by the Spartans opponent. Francis Howell Central's Chase Rey, Adam Otten, and Kyle Novak led the offensive assault on CBC, but it was the goal tending of Howell Central Junior Zachary Grabowski that stood out in the high shooting affair. Grabowski, who earned the game's MVP honors put the Spartans on his shoulders as he stopped 40 of 43 shots to carry his team past the top seeded CBC. CBC (25-2-1) has been a consistent member of the finals, appearing in seven championship games in the past decade.
The Spartans got into penalty trouble early in the first period as CBC found themselves on a two-man advantage but were unable to capitalize. The Cadet's jack Ryan opened the scoring for CBC at 7:37 of the first period after he beat Zach Grabowski five hole. Francis Howell Central answered quickly as Chase Rey scored a power play goal on a pass from Kyle Novak just 70 seconds later. From there, Howell Central did not look back. Chase Rey added another goal less than a minute later when he buried a pass off the stick of John Mueller. Adam Otten seemed to take the wind out of CBC's sails with his 22nd goal of the year as he picked up a pass from John Mueller as his penalty expired and beat CBC goaltender Justin Davis. The Spartans would lead 4-1 after Kyle Novak scored with 1:31 left in the first period. Less than two minutes into the second, Novak put the Spartans up 5-1 on a dish from Jalen Krogman. Adam Otten would continue the scoring when he split two CBC defensemen to slip a shot just under the crossbar past Justin Davis. Jack Ryan would strike again for the Cadets with 2:46 left to play in the second to cut the deficit to 6-2. 5:17 into the 3rd period, Kyle Novak completed the hat trick with Chase Rey and Jalen Krogman picking up assists on the play. Tanner Bulejski notched the final goal of the game as he slipped a pass from Josh Gray past Grabowski just 49 seconds remaining. Francis Howell Central picks up their first Mid-States title with the win. Meanwhile, this marks the second year in a row that CBC has been upset as they lost to longtime rivals DeSmet last year 5-4.
Francis Howell Central celebrates Adam Otten's 2nd goal of the game in Tuesday's Mid-States Challenge Cup.
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