All SOL photo galleries for ICE HOCKEY can be viewed by clicking HERE.
By Ben Reese
WARWICK — Cole Breen is the back-up goalie for the Central Bucks East ice hockey team.
He is a freshman, all of 14 years old. He’s not the biggest player on the team. In fact, when he stands in the crease, the top of his head just clears the crossbar on the goal cage.
Cole Breen has never started a varsity game for the Patriots. That is, until Wednesday night against North Penn at Revolution Ice Gardens.
And now, Cole Breen has a couple things that a lot of goalies work for every year — a win and a shutout in a Suburban High School Hockey League game. He blanked the Knights 2-0 in his varsity debut.
“First varsity game,” said East coach Jeff Mitchell with a proud smile on his face. “He just took care of business pretty much as I expected.
“He is a pretty high class Triple-A goalie at his age. To step out on the ice against 17-, 18-year-olds and hold his own is pretty impressive.”
Breen kicked out all 25 shots that the Knights threw at him. Some of the saves were spectacular.
“There were some routine saves in there for the most part,” Mitchell said. “But when he had to bail us out, he really did the job. It’s not every day that, in a kid’s first game, I’m handing him the game puck after everything.”
So why did he get his first start on Wednesday night?
“Our main goalie (Matt Mangiacapre) has been having a bit of a struggle,” Mitchell said. “So it’s good to see a young kid come in and assume the role.”
Well, Cole Breen, were you nervous?
“A little bit but it was fine,” he said. “It was just like any other game.”
He did get a lot of help from his defensive mates.
“I made sure that the boys knew that they were taking care of him,” said Mitchell, “and he was taking care of his job. Everyone pretty much as a team played as I expected.”
East scored twice in the first period against North Penn goalie Nick Ebbinghaus. But they were the only two goals of the game.
The first goal came with 6:33 gone in the period. Aiden Schmidt, with assists from Stephen DiRugeris and Eric Frail, beat Ebbinghaus on the power play.
“We got off to a bit of a slow start,” said Steve Galetta, who was running the team for Kevin Vaitis, who was home with his wife and new baby. “The first penalty put us in a situation where pretty early in the penalty-kill we got a tip (by a North Penn defenseman) and then it hit the far post and went in. That’s a tough one to come back from.”
The second goal turned out to be more of an insurance goal than anything else. Tyler Godown scored off an assist from Corey Kosick at the 12:25 mark.
But those were the only goals of the game.
What that means is that both goaltenders played very well. While Breen got the win and the shutout, Ebbinghaus faced 41 shots and stopped all but two of them.
In the end, Breen put everything into perspective for the Patriots.
“It was good for the team to get a win,” he said. “We’ve been playing good over the past couple of games but (against) tough teams and (suffering) tough losses.
“It’s always better to play with a lead.”
CB East 2, North Penn 0
CB East 2 0 0 — 2
North Penn 0 0 0 — 0
First Period: 1, Aiden Schmidt CBE (Stephen DiRugeris, Eric Frail) 6:33 PP; 2, Tyler Godown CBE (Corey Kosick) 12:25.
Second period: No scoring.
Third period: No scoring.
Shots: NP 25, CBE 41. Saves: Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 39, Cole Breen (CBE) 25.
- Log in to post comments
