Two quick goals give Carroll win against Richland

By Trae Thompson
Special to the Star-Telegram

EULESS -- The first and third periods were fairly even Thursday night, but the Carroll hockey team sandwiched the damage it did to Richland's team in the middle of the game.

Playing the Rebels in a rematch of an Oct. 19 game, the Dragons -- No. 2 in the latest `Star-Telegram hockey rankings -- scored two quick goals in a 16-second span during the second period.

That turned out to be enough to help the Dragons get a 2-0 victory against their section rivals in a Southwestern Bell Metroplex High School Hockey League game at the Dr Pepper StarCenter in Euless.

With the victory, Carroll (8-1-0, 6-1-0 in Section 4) remained atop the section standings, and also was able to avenge a 3-1 loss in their first game with the Rebels, who are ranked No. 5.

"This was the game we had to take care of after they bragged about beating us," Carroll center Danny Force said. "It was the only thing on our mind."

Both teams relied on strong defense, which led to only a combined 21 shots on goal, but also resulted in a flurry of penalties. The Dragons finished with 17 penalties in their last game with Trinity. On Thursday, that number hardly dropped, as the Dragons collected 15 penalties to Richland's 13.

"We told them before the game that we wanted a clean game and that the game objective was zero penalties," Carroll coach David Carissimi said. "But certainly the tempo of the game was such [that] they got a little carried away, so we've just got to work a little harder with them to get that back in line."

The Rebels (5-3-2, 3-3-1) were hurt more, though, when leading scorer Dan Rombach left in the first period with a rib injury. He didn't return to the game, but Richland coach Bill Stabler said he hopes to have Rombach back next week.

Richland and Carroll both finished with five shots on goal after the first period, but Force put the Dragons ahead 1-0 at the 3:45 mark of the second. Then, at the 4:01 mark, Carroll's Brian Jacobowski scored the final goal off assists by Ross Paradee and Jeff Kraemer.