Aces-Bears Pregame Thoughts

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.

3- Dan Rohanna, while being one of the best defenseman in this league, plays a very similar game to Doug Hoffman, except the always smiling Aces defenseman doesn’t possess Rohanna’s toughness. With the Aces already possessing the Derek Boogaard of the EPHL in Chad Wilcox and two other experiences and capable defensemen in Nick Grove and Rob Miller, Rohanna’s immense talent would be to much better use somewhere else.

4- With Rohanna and Cardinale out of the fold, a young speedster like Tony Resendes can come in and now give the Aces three lines that can contribute offensively every single night, which also allows Firriolo to play more of the high intensity, puck pursuit game that he wanted to.

5- With that being said, hockey today is all about league parity. It’s in the best interest of the league right now to have four strong teams that battle for a playoff spot all season long. The way the league was going before, it looked like [and still does] that Brooklyn is light years ahead of the competition. However, in my opinion, rather than giving away grit and size like the Aces did, every team in this league needs to go and find themselves a good goaltender. Aside from the Aces Eddie Neville, pretty much every other goaltender has had a pair of sloppy games already. In any league, goaltending is key and so far this season, it seems that Brooklyn is the only team in the league that truly understands that.

In spite of all of that however, tonight’s game with Hudson Valley should be a battle of offenses as the BMT line of James Brannigan, Kyle McCollaugh and C.J. Tozzo will see if they can keep the fire burning a bit longer, while Bears stars Chris Seifert and Scott Estey, who are fourth and sixth in league scoring respectively, will try and keep pace with Brooklyn and pot a few of their own.

Things even have the potential to get hairy, Cardinale, who isn’t scared to fight anyone, may look to make a statement by taking on Wilcox. Look for Rohanna to log plenty of ice-time tonight as well, as he quickly becomes the Bears new number one defenseman.

Site News:

Be sure to check out the site’s new fight page, located on the page index sidebar for some great videos that will be updated during the season.

Also, after tabbing the Brannigan, McCollaugh and Tozzo line, the BMT line last week, I got the itch to do the same with the second line of Chris Holmes, Mike Christensen and Jesse Felten. Talking to Christensen and Felten last night, I found out the trio are all rooming together as well. Christensen also told me he thinks of his line as something like the “Coneheads” line in the hockey classic “Miracle,” because they’re always clowning around off the ice. That alone has given giving me a few ideas for a name of their line, which will be the subject of a new poll this week on the site. If you have any ideas for the name of the Aces second line that aren’t mentioned there, please feel free to e-mail me as well.

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