Aces Tough it out in 8-5 Win Over Danbury

For the third night in a row this week, the Brooklyn Aces hit the ice at the Aviator Arena and for the third night in a row, they came out victorious.

Fueled by two-goal nights by Josh Coyle, Ian McLaughlin and Eric Frank, the Aces stormed past the Danbury Mad Hatters 8-5.

“Coyle is a really smart player,” said McCullough. “He made some intelligent plays out there tonight.”

Without captain Chad Wilcox in the lineup, who injured his knee after getting checked by New Jersey’s Rich Jondo during the team’s last game, Brooklyn knew they’d have to score early and then establish themselves physically.

While they more than held their own in the physicality department, Danbury got on the board first less than a minute into the game on an Eric Kent marker. The Aces then tied the score at 4:56 on a Coyle wrister with traffic in front. Coyle soon extended the lead with his second goal of the night at 10:20. A factor again offensively, Coyle assisted on a Kyle McCullough goal at 12:33 that made it a two-goal game. With 32.1 seconds remaining in the first, Danbury got a goal from Stephen Schofield in traffic to cut the lead to 3-2.

Just 1:03 into the second period, Jesse Felten scored, giving the Aces their two-goal lead back at 4-2.

“My linemates keep getting me the puck,” said Felten. “The chemistry is really there right now:”

The line of B.J. Kuper, Frank and Felten continued to shine later in the period, as Frank tallied at 6:10, giving the Aces a 5-2 lead. Danbury fought back and after a Doug Hoffman interference penalty, Obi Aduba lit the lamp at 14:51 to make it a 5-3 game. Ian McLoughlin scored 5:43 later to make it a 6-3 game going into the final period.

Just when things looked over for Danbury, goals from Kent and Hank Carisio cut the Aces lead to 6-5.

Aces head coach Chris Firriolo promptly called a timeout in an attempt to get his team back on the right track.

“I’m proud of the way they played out there, but we have to start to put teams away sooner,” said Firriolo. “I know it was our third game in three nights, so I can’t be mad about it. It’s just something we have to work on.”

The timeout paid off as the Aces didn’t give up another Danbury goal the rest of the way. Brooklyn then nailed down the game with McLoughlin and Frank both scoring empty-net goals during the last minute of play, cementing the 8-5 win.

“We came out flat in the third period and they took advantage,” said McCullough. “We needed that timeout; it got us going.”

Notes-

Aces goaltender Miro Recicar made 25 saves for his 12th win this season.

The scrap between Gabe Yeung and Hank Carisio has been added to the team’s fight page.

The game, which was feisty from the start, began to get ugly towards the end of the third after Danbury forward Drew Madeiros began cursing at fans in the crowd while serving a fighting penalty. At that point, the game was still 6-5. Soon after, Danbury head coach Dave MacIsaac took his team off the ice and into the dressing room, with 50 seconds left to play. Returning about a minute later, MacIsaac went to the team’s penalty box, where he berated the league officials who were in the scoring table in addition to yelling at the teenager that was hired to work the penalty box for the night.

“It was crazy,” said McCullough. “Every time we play Danbury something like this happens. It’s getting ridiculous.”

Attendance for the game was 1,005.

Photos by Patrick Hickey Jr.

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