Team back at .500 mark
by John Beisser, Sports Writer
With all-everything senior goalie Eric Visnovsky sidelined with a bad cold, the Hillsborough High ice hockey team received a boost from junior goalie David Palo in recording victories over Bernards and Verona to even its record at 7-7.
On Thursday, Palo, a seldom-used reserve who backs up one of the state’s best in Visnovsky, was pressed into service and responded admirably in helping the Raiders to a 3-2 win over Bernards, which was followed by a 5-0 shutout of Verona the following night.
Palo turned away 36 shots as Hillsborough posted a come-from-behind win over Bernards, which came in with a gaudy 9-2 record in the lower-level New Jersey Ice Hockey League’s Blue Division. Corey DeFranco shook loose for two goals in the third period, including the eventual game-winning, short-handed goal with 5:39 left in the game as the Raiders escaped with the win at the Rock Ice Pavillion in Dunellen.
While head coach Rob Donovan was pleased with the effort turned by Palo, he didn’t have very many kind words for the rest of the team as the Raiders trailed 2-1 heading into the third period.
”Bernards has a nice team but they play two divisions below us and we came out in the first two periods and looked like we were looking past them,” Donovan said.
Asked about the message he delivered to his team in-between the second and third periods, he replied with a laugh, “Let’s just say I had some encouraging words. The kids kind of stepped it up and we were able to get the win. Yeah, I was pretty upset. For two periods we were flat, showing no passion, playing with no enthusiasm. I just told them, ‘Basically, your season is on the line here. Lose this game, and it very well might cost us a state playoff bid.”
Teams need to have a .500 or better record by the Feb. 11 cutoff date to qualify for the NJSIAA Tournament.
Buoyed by the come-from-behind win over Bernards, the Raiders went out the next night and emphatically avenged a season-opening 4-3 loss to Verona back on Dec. 3.
”We are a very different team now than we were then,” Donovan said. “We have a lot more cohesion out there. We’re executing better in every area and we’re getting results.”
Indeed, the victory over Verona marked Hillsborough’s fifth win in its last six games. At one point, the Raiders were sitting at 2-6 and the season was hanging on the brink. Heading into Monday’s re-match at highly-regarded St. Joseph’s of Metuchen, who Hillsborough knocked off 2-1 in the first meeting, the Raiders have climbed back to .500 and are playing with tremendous confidence.
A couple short weeks ago, it seemed the only way Hillsborough could find the goal was if the Raiders were in a power-play advantage. A testament to this team’s growth is that all five Raider goals in Friday’s win over Verona were scored in even-man situations as five different Raiders tallied goals.
Hillsborough jumped out of the gates quickly against the Hillbillies with Trevor Bierwirth connecting off assists by Chris Korenczuk and Joe Kubrak. Alex Vitale made it 2-0 after one period, converting a rebound off a shot fired by DeFranco. At the outset of the second period, DeFranco scored to make it 3-0 after receiving a pretty pass from freshman Brett Siegrist. Anticipating that he was going to get hit along the boards, Siegrist fired a pass between the ankles of an oncoming Verona defender to DeFranco, who buried the shot.
”Brett made a great play,” Donovan said. “He fired it under his legs to Corey. It was a really heads-up play and Corey slammed it home, a real nice bang-bang play.”
Kubrak slammed home a wrist shot off a feed from Greg Calvaruso to make it 4-0 after two periods. Matt Daugherty rounded out the Raider scoring with his first goal of the season, off a DeFranco assist.
A constant in the two Raider victories was the impressive and consistent play of Palo, who, in playing like a grizzled veteran, suggests that Hillsborough will be in capable hands between the pipes next season. He wound up with 27 saves against Verona in registering his first career shutout.
”Dave did a great job,” Donovan said. “He was outstanding. Understandably, he was a little nervous at the outset against Bernards. But he settled down. He kept himself in great position, staying low, yet being strong on top. He’s not a big kid like Eric. Dave goes about 5-11, 155, 160, but he played great positional defense and really came through for us.
”No matter how much you to try to simulate it in practice, game speed is just different,” Donovan added. “You’ve got feet, sticks, all kinds of things going on in front of you. But, Dave handled it beautifully.
And suddenly, this Raider season, which seemed lost there for awhile, has a chance to win up with a beautiful ending. Stay-tuned.