Posts on ‘November 22nd, 2008’

This should be a very interesting game to watch. Not only because the Aces barely squeaked out a 7-6 win when these two teams played each other last week, but because of the fact that both Dan Rohanna and Jerry Cardinale were added to the Bears roster yesterday.

After speaking to various members of the team and the Aces coach Chris Firriolo yesterday, I got a feeling those rosters moves were made for a variety of reasons:

1- On any other team in this league, Cardinale gets a regular shift, as to the Aces where he and new captain Chad Wilcox were only getting spot shifted.

2- The Aces team is stacked from top to bottom and a guy like Cardinale could really help the Bears round out their top two lines or be a extremely solid grinder on the third.

Nick Niedert made 60 saves the last time the New Jersey Rockhoppers faced the Aces at Aviator Arena on November 8. But Brooklyn, coming off of consecutive seven-goal performances against Hudson Valley and Danbury, wasn’t worried about producing offensively.

Why exactly? Three letters explain it all: B…M…T.

Combining for 12 points on the night, the Aces “BMT line” of James Brannigan, Kyle McCollaugh and and C.J. Tozzo, proved the New Jersey goaltender’s game of the year performance two weeks ago was simply a mirage, shredding both Niedert and the Rockhoppers defense to bits in a more than convincing 8-2 win.

“These guys are on fire right now,” said Aces coach Chris Firriolo. “They’re definitely a top line in this league.”

After a short-feeling out process by both team’s that included several solid saves by Niedert and Brooklyn goaltender Eddie Neville, McCollaugh, the team’s leading assist man, proved he could do a lot more than pass, scoring on a surreptitious one-timer after a beautiful backhand pass from behind the net from Aces leading scorer Brannigan at 11:31, giving them a 1-0 lead.