VISUALEYES OPENS 2010-11 SEASON WITH A WIN

Team Visualeyes found plenty of ways to lose last season, but started a new campaign finding a way to win. The boys in red, white, and blue rallied from an early 2-0 deficit and beat Our Bar, 9-4 in their home opener Wednesday night at Buffalo State Arena.

Utzig and Cacciatore scored for Our Bar (O.B.) before Player/Coach/GM/Equipment Manager, Drew Leberer (North Tonawanda) took the bull by the horns and opened up the scoring frenzy for Visualeyes. Leberer intercepted a neutral ice pass by an O.B. defensemen, snapped a wicked wrister just beyond the blue line, drove hard to the net and buried his own rebound in Leberer only fashion. "At that point in the game, we really had not tested their 'tender and I was just trying to put everything on the net. He left me a fat rebound and I just put her home." said Leberer from the putting green at Sheridan Park Golf Course Thursday morning.

Schottke adds 4 points in Win

Eric Schottke (Tonawanda) knotted the score at 2 after a beautiful pass from recent call up, James "Duffy" Dunnigan (Getzville). Schottke led the way in scoring with four points, netting two and adding two assists. Rookie blue-liner, Dunnigan, said "Yeah, it was a solid all around team effort, (we) showed a lot of grit to come back from an early 2 goal deficit.

The scoring continued as Dan Brown (Lancaster) netted his first career EMHL goal from Simpson-Corigliano (Tonawanda) and Crowe (Kenmore). Brown said, "Feels great to get the monkey off my back here, I'm just happy to contribute to the win. Bob really fed me a nice pass and made it an easy bury."

Goaltender Adam Roma (Lancaster) proved his worth to the squad by making several fabulous saves, earning the game puck and first-star honors. Forward, Bob Simpson spoke about Roma's night, "Going into the game I was a bit nervous about how Adam would play; he was very quiet in the locker-room. Knowing it was a new team and how he has not played goalie in a few seasons I was leery, but one word that could describe him all night long would definitely be "focused". I know he wants a few of them back, but if he eliminates a few mistakes, he is on his way to being a top tier goaltender in the EMHL."

After his first game, Roma added, "Without Simpson, it would have only been an 8-4 final, Thank you, Bob!"

 Matt Mesi (Orchard Park) did it all himself, and piled on the third goal of the second period, unassisted, proving to be the game winner. Mesi had three points, right behind Schottke for the team lead in points after the first game. "Shoot." noted Mesi from his Allentown condo.

The goal of the night came from T.J. Cooper (Hamburg) as he pulled the old "dipsy do, how do ya do", walking 4 O.B. players, leaving their goaltender helpless versus the lightning fast Cooper.

Bonito has eyes on the prize

Centreman Max Bonito (Amherst) notched two assists proving doubting critics his injury plagued summer is behind him. "Well it's nice to get your feet under you, it was a rough off-season due to the injuries and I am just excited to back on the ice at 100%. I'm not going to lie to you right now, I was a little nervous before the game. Most of the time when you're 24 years old, you're not nervous before the game, but I was. Now, it's a good feeling when you're able to help your team win." Andrew Valint (Tonawanda) told the media how quick Bonito looked. "Max was flying behind the net, so I asked him if he has been doing some sort of special workouts or sprints on his own or something, and he said "yeah, I am getting ready for deer season.""

NOTEBOOK:
-Visualeyes special teams looked great even for the first game, going 1 for 2 on the man-advantage goal from Simpson-Corigliano, and shutting down Our Bar's power play both times.

-Jeremiah Crowe added his first career EMHL points in the 9-4 win, dropping a goal and an assist in his debut.

 -Leberer will be listed as day-to-day, and considered a game-time decision for next Wednesday's match-up versus Westfield's Whalers with a bruised cerebellum. Leberer took a howitzer to the back of the head from fellow D-partner Andrew Valint late in the third period. Leberer did not return.

-In other EMHL action, the Westfield Whalers dropped their first game 6-5 in a shoot-out loss to Third Street Tap Room and Pappas' Indians defeated Cozumel 6-5.