Offense was the story of Tuesday night’s EMHL matchup between Visualeyes and Third St. Tap Room. Visualeyes outlasted the firestorm by a goal, downing Third St. 12-11 in regulation before zero fans at Buffalo State Arena.
Visualeyes looked to bounce back from a disappointing loss against Pappas Indians last week and they did so by bringing the gumption to do so from the first shift. Rookie forward, Dan Brown (Lancaster) unlocked the flood gates early on a fine-looking feed from long time Visualeyes veteran, Adam Holler (Tonawanda). Brown continued to pour it on, completing his second career hat-trick with just six minutes remaining in the first period. “It was a great game with not much defense, although they tried much harder than the V, skill prevailed over will.” Said Brown after his five point night.
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| COOPER nets 1 of 3 Team V's Hat-Tricks |
Brown wasn’t the only one with a hat-trick Tuesday night for Visualeyes, as T.J. Cooper (Hamburg) continued on his hot streak with three goals and an assist as well as Bob Simpson-Corigliano(Tonawanda) netting his 7th, 8th, and 9th goal of the year in the win. Simpson-Corigliano had the hot hand against Third St Tap Room, finishing with seven points. If Simpson could stay healthy, some say his shot at the scoring title could be within reach.
Visualeyes held the lead for most of the game until the end of the second period when Third Street tied the game at 7. It seemed as if Visualeyes slowed down a bit after centreman Don Borsuk (West Seneca) took out his frustrations on the referee with a two minute minor and a 10 minute misconduct. The brewer’s from the Falls took their first lead of the game early in the third period, but Simpson-Corigliano answered back to tie the game at 8, on a pass from Visualeyes’ leading scorer, Eric Schottke (Tonawanda). Player/Coach/GM/Equipment Manager Drew Leberer (North Tonawanda) netted his fourth goal of the year on some sauce from Brown. Leberer added “Just good to help the team out in any way I can, whether it is writing letters to the league, filling up the bottles, even though Duff did take the bull by the horns and did a great job tonight, or sniping bar down like I did tonight. That pass was all Brownie though. He’s found me two weeks in a row now in difficult areas; I think it’s a little bit of the time we’ve been putting in at practice.”
A pivotal point in the game came when Adam Roma (Lancaster) stopped a “2 on 0” to hold the Visualeyes lead. That seemed to be the story of the night as Roma was left on his own several times by shoddy Team V defense, but backstopped Visualeyes’ seventh win of the season.
Visualeyes scored three more times in the third, two more from Cooper, and the last from Schottke, knocking in the 12th goal for the team of the night. “Our lines took shape nicely, a great coaching move by Leberer.” Said Schottke.
Centreman Don Borsuk (West Seneca) continued his mean streak in the third, getting his second, 10 minute misconduct of the game, only 45 seconds after leaving the penalty box from his first infractions. Third Street again responded to Borsuk’s actions with three quick goals, giving Team V’s four goal cushion a scare. In the end, Visualeyes held on, surviving the scare and brought home the win.
Borsuk declined to comment following his 22 PIM and three assist night, leading the league with 28 PIMs, but teammate Eric Schottke had this to say. “Borsey seems very agitated. I thought he was going to break that ref’s leg or face. I think he may need to have 12 to 30 beers with his old friends to relax and get back to normal. Simpson looked like a total clown with his new helmet but hey, he had a great game, so who am I to judge. I will be putting ear pieces in this week, we’ll see what happens. Also, our thoughts and prayers go out to the Portka-Donnelly family, as Ryan continues to heal from his fat lip.”
“With some big guns out of the lineup (Donnelly, Crowe, Bonito, Browne, Mesi) it was nice to see the team respond in a positive way.” Commented Simpson. “Borsey needs to recognize the situation his team was in and be a bigger man. To get two misconducts in one game with his team short was simply selfish. I think the leaders of the team will address his actions and he will be a different player next game”
Some teammates thought differently about Borsuk’s play, believing it brought a wild side to Visualeyes that they have always seemed to lack.“It’s obvious Donny’s presence out there is intimidating. I think for sure, blue (Third Street) felt at ease with him in the box and in the end, hitting the shower early. They scored 8 of 11 goals when 15 was contained.” Rookie Jim “Duffy” Dunnigan (Getzville) said .
NEWS AND NOTES:
-VISUALEYES skates next week, December 21st vs Faherty's @ 10:50 pm.
