Batavia Notre Dame United dropped a 5-3 decision tonight to the Portside Royals in Section V hockey action at the Batavia Ice Arena.
BND falls to 2-2 while Portside, a merger of the Brockport and Spencerport programs, improves to 3-1.
The winners scored three goals in the second period to take a 4-1 lead and managed to hold off a spirited comeback by the home team.
Forward Vin DiRisio deflected a shot from the point by defenseman Orion Lama with 12 minutes left in the game, and forward Gavin Schrader buried a backhand shot after he stole the puck deep in the Portside zone three minutes later to pull BND within one at 4-3.
The Royals responded a minute later when United turned the puck over in its own end, leading to a goal by Evan Bovee.
“We just dug too deep of a hole in the second period,” BND Coach Marc Staley said. “We had some great scoring chances that we just did not capitalize on.”
With 2 ½ minutes left, Bovee received a major penalty after a blindside hit on DiRisio, giving United a two-man advantage – following a penalty at the 3:38 mark on Joey Mandel.
BND was unable to generate any offense, however, and Portside was able to clear the puck several times.
The home team opened the scoring at 10:47 of the first period on a slapshot from the right point by Andrew Kasmarek. Portside tied it with 4:55 remaining in the period on a goal by Henry Schulz.
Schultz scored a shorthanded goal a minute into the second period to put Portside up 2-1. He added a power play goal with 5:34 remaining and Sal Balbi scored after taking a pass from Ryan Plouffe with 1:44 to play to make it 4-1.
Courtney Schum stopped 27 of 32 shots while Portside goalie Danny Kucmerowski turned away 35 of 38 shots. Schum has replaced sophomore starter Frank Falleti Jr., who is out indefinitely with a leg injury. .
Schrader now has eight goals and DiRisio has six.
Staley said he saw “a lot of good things” from his team, noting that United outshot the Royals, took only two penalties and gave up just three odd man rushes. He also mentioned that he was surprised by the amount of hard checking.
“The game was much more physical than we’ve seen so far this year. It’s certainly not what we are used to seeing in Section V. I thought the kids did a great job adjusting to that and really coming after them in the third period,” he said.
Senior captain Zack Eschberger returns to the team on Monday after being in quarantine, Staley said.
BND travels to Geneva on Tuesday to take on the WFL Panthers. Game time is 7 p.m.
