Battle of Megnas goes Muskegon way

It's always toughest on the parents.

"I'm a nervous wreck. It's very, very nerveracking," Jacky Megna said.

Jacky and her husband, Jay, got to watch their sons play hockey against each other for the second time in about three weeks last night at The Stable. Jaycob Megna and the Muskegon Lumberjacks bested Jayson Megna and the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, 2-1, in a shootout before 2,203 fans.

Muskegon won the shootout, 1-0, to even the Megna war at a game apiece. Cedar Rapids won Nov. 20 in Michigan in a shootout.

Jayson had the game-tying goal late in regulation of that one, with Jaycob recording an assist. Last night it was Jayson assisting on Cedar Rapids' lone goal, from Ryan McGrath.

"A lot of fun," Jaycob Megna said. "We played together a couple of years ago at Tabor Academy and we'll be playing four more years together in college. It's always good to play with him. We worked out together during the summer, really pushed each other. So there's always that competition there."

"Playing with him, that was a blast, a lot of fun," Jayson Megna said. "But playing against him was just different."

Jayson is three years older than Jaycob and is a forward, as opposed to Jaycob being a defenseman. They're also very different in size, with Jayson at 5-foot-11 and 197 pounds and Jaycob checking in at 6-foot-5 and 205.

The Northbrook, Ill., brothers played a season together at prep school in Massachusetts and have committed to play college hockey together at Nebraska-Omaha. First, they'll have to get through playing against each other two more times this season.

Or rather their parents will have to get through it. Friday night, Jay was in Dubuque watching Jaycob play while Jacky was in Cedar Rapids watching Jayson.

They were together last night being, well, nervous wrecks.

"You want Cedar Rapids to score when Jaycob is not on the ice. But of course you want Muskegon to score, too," Jacky Megna said. "It's just very tough, very nerveracking ... And you don't want anyone to touch either boy.

"Our daughter (Jessica) flew in from Florida State for the last game. She had the Cedar Rapids jersey on the second period and overtime and the Muskegon jersey in the first and third periods. She just kept switching. And the boys, that was the first time they had seen each other since (the season started). They didn't see each other and get a chance to talk until after the game. That was a touching moment."

The brothers and their parents had about 15 minutes to chat postgame last night, until Jaycob hit the bus with his team for a game today at Chicago. They never chirped at each other on the ice, as hockey players are known to do.

Just plenty of respect between them.

"(It's) an experience playing against him here," Jayson Megna said. "He's been here before, watched some of my games here last year. So (it's) a pretty cool thing."

Here is the game boxscore:

http://ushl.stats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=1341431