THEY'RE BACK!

Unable to win two games in a row since early September, Team Visualeyes looked to gain back to back EMHL Classic Division wins after a rusty start to their 2012-2013 season.

Team V did so, taking down The University of Buffalo's School of Dental Medicine 14-11 in a barn-burning affair Saturday evening at the Buffalo State Arena. Eric Schottke led the way, smashing a Team Visualeyes single game record, notching 9 points. (5G, 4A)

Schottke opened the scoring on the first shift of the game as Ryan Donnelly gracefully found a streaking Robert Simpson on the right wing. Simpson then made a behind the back, back-handed pass to an open Schottke in the slot who buried low blocker.

Schottke nets 5 goals and 4 assists in win

The dynamic duo of last season, Duff Dunnigan and Eric Schottke have had their moments early in the year, but have not consistently brought the flare and flamboyance to the game like Team V saw out of the Tioga Terror the previous campaign. Fans saw a different tune being played by the Terror, as they teamed up on the next four goals of the first period. Simpson helped the line push the pace of the game, while Dunnigan's patience and poise proved too much for UBSDM's goalie's five hole.

After one period of play, Visualeyes held a 5-2 lead and continued to roll offensively. Simpson netted his 6th tally of the year from Schottke, and last year's Rookie of the Year, Adam Bellows.While the line of Schottke, Dunnigan and Simpson contributed on Visualeyes' first six goals of the game, Matt Mesi, Andrew Valint and Steven Browne couldn't be tamed either. Half-way through the second period, power forward Valint hit Browne in stride on the left wall. Browne faked driving to the net hard and tossed perfect sauce to a wide open Matt Mesi who beat the goaltender with a blistering back-hand.

Derrick "The Polish Passer" Stanek, called up from "DDD" Pittsburgh, provided stellar defensive play, helping goaltender Matt Baudo by clearing out the slot and blocking 9 shots on the night. Stanek suffered a broken pinky toe in the first period blocking a slap shot by a UBDSM sniper, but continued to battle through the painful injury in the win.

UBDSM matched TeamV's offense in the 2nd and 3rd with 5 and 4 goals respectively, continuing a puzzling trend for Visualeyes. Visualeyes has been blazing hot off of the opening draw all season long, yet has seemed to lose some steam as the game progresses. Many point the finger at the vacancy in the strength and conditioning coaching position. Others believe the absence of physical specimen Michael A. Denz have led the Visualeyes' icers to get lazy in their off-ice training.
 
After the win, and chipping in with two goals and a helper, Matt English said. "We knew coming in that UBSDM was an offensive juggernaut and we wanted to prove to the league that we were a two-headed monster. We can loosen the game up and beat you 14-11, or we could shut down defensively and beat you 9-8. I think it was a good win and we sent a message to the rest of the league."

Not pleased with his team's victory, Andrew Valint gave the local radio talk shows something to tie their phone lines up with. "Team V has a lot of growing up to do if they want to regain glory. The selfishness on this team makes my stomach turn. We have players taking two dumb penalties, and then staring down the coach and trying to break the penalty box door. It makes you wonder if that person was raised by wolves."

Team Visualeyes takes on Pappas Indians Friday, November 23rd at the Buffalo State Arena at 9:20 PM. Great seats are still available. The Indians have dominated the season series, taking 9-7 and 8-4 victories in earlier meetings.



NEWS AND NOTES:

-With a third of the 12-13 EMHL season in the books, Visualeyes win over UBSDM improved their record to 5-4-1, good enough for first place in the Classic Division. Visualeyes does however have 2 more games played than bitter rival, Winter's Whalers.

-Eric Schottke leads the EMHL with 27 points (14G, 13A) in just 6 games played.