Lysyj, Janos key second win over B-R
By: John Beisser
The beat goes on for the Hillsborough High ice hockey team.
Against excellent opponents, the Raiders piece together solid victories, such as the 4-1 decision over Bridgewater Raritan on Jan. 18. If the Panthers did not have Hillsborough on their schedule, they would be undefeated. Instead, they have two losses, both to Hillsborough.
Against inferior opponents, well, things get downright out of hand, such as last Friday’s 12-3 vanquishing of Dayton and Saturday’s 11-1 drubbing of Governor Livingston.
In certain games, the competition seems to come from within, said Hillsborough head coach Jeff Kampf.
"There is an inner-competition on our team," said Kampf, whose club climbed to No. 19 in the latest New Jersey state hockey poll, in this, their very first season of varsity play. "Our second line, for example, does not want to be out-played by our first line. We have a bunch of kids who don’t want to be superstars, they just want to play the right way. They all step up and as a coach, that is a great thing."
Hillsborough went 17-2-2 against a jayvee schedule last season in its first year as a high school program and many of the key players from that team returned, including dynamic and talented sophomore goalie Eric Visnovsky. The Raiders are competing in the Blue Division, the weakest of the three divisions within the Central Jersey League with the Red being the toughest and the White in the middle.
The pattern for the 15-1 Raiders has been pretty much as follows when the Raiders play a fellow Red Division foe it’s an annihilation, when they meet a White Division team, it’s a semi-annihilation and when they are tested against a Blue Division team, the game is competitive but they come out on top.
The only blemish on Hillsborough’s record actually came against a top White Division team in a l-0 defeat to Montgomery in the finals of the Somerset County Tournament. The state tournament is lurking a bit down the road but Kampf has his team focused squarely on the task at hand, which includes a re-match vs. West Orange on Friday followed by a big test vs. Red Division member Ridge on Saturday.
February 7 and February 10 are dates circled on the Raiders’ calendar. On the seventh, Hillsborough gets a chance to even the score vs. Montgomery while the 10th brings a third meeting with Bridgewater-Raritan.
"Montgomery is the only team to beat us and man, meeting Bridgewater for the third time will not be easy," Kampf said. "You know what they say about trying to beat a good team three times in the same season. Before that, we have Ridge and they’re 7-3."
So many players are contributing at such a high level that space does not allow the mentioning of them all. Certainly, junior forward Matt Janos has been a key.
"He’s just a great all-around player," Kampf said. "He sees everything that is going out there on the ice and, in addition to scoring two, three goals a game, he finds his teammates for assists."
Junior forward Michael Lysyj is a consistent performer who "always comes through in crunch time," according to Kampf. One player who seems to have an uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time and who is largely responsible for keeping the team together is junior defenseman Eric Psihoules.
"Rock-solid," Kampf said. "He’s the glue, in many ways the foundation of our team. He plays great defense but he is also very offensive-mined. He takes that shot from the blue line. Trevor Bierwirth is another one who stands out on the defense. I could go on and on. It’s been a ride."
In Hillsborough’s 4-1 win over 10-2 Bridgewater at the Rock Ice Pavilion in Dunellen, the Raiders seized a 1-0 lead when sophomore forward Matt Daugherty converted a Lysyj assist with 6:24 left in the second. Bridgewater tied the score with a power-play goal 1:25 into the third. Lysyj then found the net twice before junior forward Alex Merry scored into an empty net with 28 seconds left on the clock. Visnovsky had 23 saves in goal.
Sophomore forward Joe Kubrak registered a hat trick while senior defenseman Kevin Nunes, Lysyj and Psihoules each had a goal and two assists in the Raiders’ 13-3 win over Dayton at Aspen Ice in Flemington.
In the 11-1 win over Governor Livingston in Union, sophomore wing Corey DeFranco scored two goals and assisted on three others as Hillsborough held a commanding 44-3 edge in shots.
Hillsborough’s biggest challenge in the weeks ahead may be avoiding getting into some bad habits against lesser foes, a trap that could hurt the Raiders once the competition level stiffens. It’s a problem most teams would love to have.